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CADWALLADER GOLDEN 

A REPRESENTATIVE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
OFFICIAL 



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CADWALLADER COLDEN 

A REPRESENTATIVE EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY OFFICIAL 



BY 

ALICE MAPELSDEN ^EYS, Ph.D. 



Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree 

of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Political 

Science, Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1906 



Copyright, 1906, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1906. 

Gift 

Thf> UaWearaHaf 

jun 4 tsis 



NorfaDolJ ^ttBS 

J. 8. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 






^ 



VITA 

Alice Mapelsden Keys was prepared for college by the 
Classical School for Girls, New York City, and was graduated 
from Barnard in 1893, receiving the degree of B.A. from 
Columbia University. A year of post-graduate study resulted 
in the attainment of the degree of MA. in 1897, that of 
Ph.D. having also been conferred by the University in the 
present year, 1906. 



The monograph which Miss Keys has prepared on Cadwallader 
Golden, and which is now pubHshed, is distinctly an original con- 
tribution to the history of New York in the eighteenth century. 
It has been written almost wholly from first-hand sources, and of 
those a large part still exist only in manuscript. It throws light 
on a period of history hitherto little studied and imperfectly under- 
stood. Its aim is neither wholly historical nor wholly biographical, 
but is rather a combination of the two. It is the study of a long 
official career considered as an illustration of the political and 
social system which then existed in one of the leading provinces of 

America. 

HERBERT L. OSGOOD. 



PREFACE 

It would be idle to affirm that patriotism depends on 
knowledge, or even on tradition ; it would be equally idle to 
deny that a sense of kinship with a country's past, springing 
from at least a general familiarity with its development, and 
sustained by many visible reminders of its history, has much 
to do with the making of good citizens. Surely, in the face 
of much contrary evidence, England's storied cities have had 
a large share in forming the character of her people ; while 
here in America, despite political corruption and social frivol- 
ity, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts stand for the ideas for 
which their fathers fought to an extent perhaps impossible 
were not the old houses and halls in which these men lived 
and spoke still so full of their spirit. It must therefore be 
regretted that New York has so few landmarks, and that, 
perhaps for this reason, so Httle is known of the men and 
women who made her history in the century that elapsed 
between Father Knickerbocker's nominal departure and the 
Revolution. Too cosmopolitan even then to produce a type, 
that fact in itself is a Hnk with the present, and it was in the 
hope of suggesting that there are many more such links that 
this sketch of one of the predominant characters of this 
middle period was undertaken. So far as possible the four 
phases of his life here considered have been treated indepen- 
dently of each other, the detailed account of his work as 
surveyor-general, for instance, being quite unnecessary to an 
understanding of his career. 



Vlll 



Preface 



With the exception of the printed authorities mentioned in 
the text, the materials for these pages have been found in 
the manuscript collection known as the Golden Papers and 
owned by the New York Historical Society. The courtesy 
of the society in permitting their use is hereby gratefully 
acknowledged, thanks being also due, in an especial manner 
to Professor H. L. Osgood, of Columbia University, without 
whose mvaluable suggestions and advice this study could not 
have been completed. 



CONTENTS 



A COLONIAL SAVANT 

PAGES 

Colden's education in Scotland — Settlement in Philadelphia — 
Removal to New York — "The Five Indian Nations" — His 
correspondents — Peter Collinson — John Bartram — John 
Rutherford — Benjamin Franklin — " An Explanation of the 
First Causes of Action in Matter, etc." — Attempts at mechanical 
invention — A botanical success — Views on education — A 
practical achievement — Other accomplishments . . . 1-26 

A COLONIAL SURVEYOR GENERAL 

Golden appointed surveyor general of New York — Condition of the 
land records — Land policy of the proprietary governors — The 
great grants of Dongan and Fletcher — Bellomont's restrictive 
policy — Free subdivision under Governors Nanfan and Corn- 
bury — Instructions to Lovelace — Colden's early surveys — His 
struggle for accuracy — His memorial to the home government 
— His opposition to the partition acts — A second memorial — 
Its results — The Connecticut boundary — Colden's part in the 
settlement of 1725 — The Oblong — Governor Cosby's hunger 
for land — Letters from Daniel Horsmanden — Colden's memorial 
to Cosby — More letters from Horsmanden — Cosby's illness 
and death — Statesmanlike schemes of Lieutenant-Governor 
Clarke — Protection of Indian rights — Casual correspondents — 
Colden's carelessness in settling the Oblong account — Interval 
in land speculation caused by King George's War — Colden's 
commission granted for life — Governor Clinton's suspicions of 
Colden's good faith — His growing interest in land — Character- 
istic letters — Effects of the last French War — Delancey's proc- 
lamation — Colden's land policy as chief magistrate — Difficulty 
with New Hampshire — The "Hampshire grants" — Inconsist- 



Contents 



ency of the instructions — Trouble with Sir William Johnson — 
Colden's suggestions incorporated in a new partition act — Criti- 
cism of his disinterestedness by the Board of Trade — His de- 
fence — The council's representations on the disputed boundaries 
and Colden's reply — Confusion caused by grants made in Eng- 
land — The government's request for a report on official fees — 
Colden's resentment of the insinuation — His conviction of the 
cause of land abuses — Examples — His trouble with the Holland 
syndicate — Van Rensselaer's patent — The " Hampshire grants " 
again 27-105 



A COLONIAL POLITICIAN 

I 

Colden's political d^ut — His challenge to the landed interest and 
its effect — Governor Burnet's Indian policy — Colden's coopera- 
tion — Opposition of the merchants and its defeat — Foundation 
of Oswego — Unpopularity of Burnet and Colden — Stephen 
Delancey — Burnet's transfer to Boston and Colden's retirement 
to the country — Advance of the popular party during the admin- 
istration of Governor Montgomerie — Colden coquets with politics 

— Governor Cosby — Daniel Horsmanden — Colden's threatened 
suspension — George Clarke lieutenant-governor — His relations 
with Colden 106-131 

II 

Governor Clinton — His character — His submission to Delancey — 
King George's War — The assembly's indifference — Capture of 
Louisburg — New assembly — Colden on Indian affairs — Clin- 
ton's break with Delancey — Canadian expedition — Colden be- 
comes Clinton's prime minister — His task — Indian conference 
and rendezvous of colonial forces at Albany — Clinton com- 
mander-in-chief — Winter plans — Return of Colden and Clinton 
to New York . 132-149 

III 

Colden's opportunity — Clinton's speech to the assembly — Its effect 

— Report of the seizure of provisions at Albany — The assem- 



Contents xi 

PAGES 

bly's action — Colden's failure to read tlie situation — The coun- 
cil's attack on Colden — His departure for Coldengham — The 
council's charges — Colden's defence — Letters from Kennedy 
and Rutherford — Military aifairs — Recall of Colden . 1 50-1 66 

IV 
The assembly's resentment at Colden's recall — Colden's vindication 
of Clinton — The assembly's reply — Mutiny of the volunteers — 
Clinton's departure for Albany — The ministry's silence — Letters 
from Colden — Clinton's difficulties 166-176 



Return of Clinton and Colden to New York — Colden's tactics — The 
administration's proposition for the fall campaign — The assem- 
bly's demand for details — Its refusal — Destruction of Fort 
Clinton — The Indians — CUnton's demand — Its evasion — His 
peremptory speech — Assembly dramatics — Two points of view 

— Confused poHcy of the ministry — Dissolution of the assembly 

— Colden's position — His return to Coldengham . . 176-193 

VI 
An election campaign — Political literature— Clinton's helplessness 

— His suspicions — James Delancey lieutenant-governor — Clin- 
ton's attempt to be his own prime minister — James Alexander 

— The assembly's advantage — Colden again recalled . 193-206 

VII 

Indian conference at Albany — Sympathy between Governor Shirley 

and Colden — Shirley's report on the province of New York — 

Prestige of the Delanceys — Mrs. Clinton — Colden returns to 

New York on Shirley's suggestion — Clinton's dread of the result 

— Affair of the prisoners — Wrangling of governor and assembly 

— Delancey's attack on Colden — Colden's defence and departure 
from town 206-215 

VIII 

Continued silence of the ministry — Importunities of Colden and 
Clinton — Clinton's fears — Colden's refusal to come to New 



xii Contents 

PAGES 

York — His proposition for the conduct of Indian affairs — Oliver 
Delancey's escapades — Colden's continued refusal to come to 
town — Prorogation of the assembly 215-224 

IX 

Colden's return and the assembly — The administration's sensible 
demands obscured by bitter quibbling on parliamentary proced- 
ure — The session resolved into a personal controversy — The 
governor's financial position — Colden's description of the situa- 
tion to Shirley — Clinton's new friends — Chief Justice Morris — 
Memorial to England — Excitement over the excise bill — Con- 
fusion of parties — Bedford's oracular approval — The episode of 
the Greyhound 224-241 

X 

Colden's refusal to meet a new assembly — Clinton suspects Colden 
of sarcasm — Alexander as peacemaker — The Board of Trade's 
report on New York — Inter-colonial Indian conference at Albany 

— Colden's "State of Indian Affairs" — Another new assembly 

— Colden's disgust at Clinton's vacillation — The ministry's de- 
cision to uphold prerogative in New York — Arrival of Sir 
Danvers Osborne — His death — Delancey's succession and 
Clinton's retirement 242-259 



A COLONIAL EXECUTIVE 

I 

Colden succeeds Delancey — French and Indian War — Social 
changes during Colden's retirement — Colden's negotiations with 
Pownall for the lieutenant-governorship — Surrender of Canada 
— Accession of George III 260-268 

II 

New York's lawyers — The Whig Club — Colden's antipathy to the 

Independents — Colden's refusal to pass a bill changing the 

tenure of Supreme Court judges — Arrival of his commission as 

■ lieutenant-governor — His efforts to correct abuses in the land 



Contents xiii 

PAGES 

system and to maintain the laws of trade — Effect of his unpopu- 
larity — Mr. Benjamin Prat — General Monckton governor of 
New York without instructions — Colden's request for them — 
Smith's use of Monckton's friendship — Disposition of the returns 
of government — Monckton's departure for Martinique — Assem- 
bly yf^^jj^ — Land grants — Discovery of Colden's negotiations 
with Secretary Pownall 268-289 

III 

The assembly and the volunteers — T/te Atnerican Chronicle — Land 
fever — Monckton's return from the South — His departure for 
England — England's colonial policy — Assembly of 1 764 — The 
Sugar Act — Other threatened trade restrictions — The assem- 
bly's address — Colden's unfortunate reply . . . 290-300 

IV 

Thomas Forshey vs. Waddell Cunningham — The attorney-general's 
attitude on appeals — Colden issues a writ opposed by the coun- 
cil — Attitude of the judges — The council's declaration on 
appeals — Colden's reply to the judges — The 32d and 33d instruc- 
tions — Journalistic wit 300-312 



The Stamp Act — Riot at Boston — New York stamp distributor re- 
signs — Colden's protest against the Stamp Act congress — 
Arrival of the stamps — Their removal to the Fort — Decision 
of the privy council on appeals 312-319 

VI 

Excitement caused by Colden's renewal of his oath of office — Wild 
rumors — Riot of November ist — Colden's agreement to let the 
stamps alone — New demands — "The rebel drummer " — Stamps 
yielded to the mayor — Arrival of Sir Henry Moore — Departure 
of Colden for Flushing — " State of the People of the New York " 

— Resemblances between Colden and Grenville — The new gov- 
ernor's policy — Verdict of the assembly on Colden's attitude 
towards appeals — England's rebuke of his cession of the stamps 

— The Stamp Act considered — Colden's vindication — Its 
indictment by the Supreme Court 3 19-33 5 



xiv Contents 



VII 



A Whig defeat — Dissolution of the assembly — The Whigs again 
unsuccessful — Sir Henry's death — Colden chief magistrate once 
more — Paper money bill passed by Colden — Motives attributed 
to him — "To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony 
of New York " — Action of the assembly — Alexander Macdougal 

— His indictment — Pivotal state of New York — Royal disap- 
proval of Colden — Reactionary tendencies . . . 335-348 

VIII 

Lord Dunmore's arrival — His claim on Colden's receipts — His suit 
to recover — Colden's victory — William Tryon governor — Re- 
turns home on leave of absence leaving Colden in charge — New 
York's committee of correspondence — Radicals disapproved — 
The Charlotte rebellion — Congress at Philadelphia — Non-im- 
portation agreement — Loyalist victory in the assembly of 1775 

— Radicals regain ascendancy by a iour deforce — Colden's final 
retirement — His career considered as a whole . . . 348-369 



Index 



371 



A COLONIAL SAVANT 



CADWALLADER GOLDEN 



A COLONIAL SAVANT 

A New York historian, in contrasting the early development 
of education in the New England colonies with its neglect in 
his own wealthier province, offers as evidence a list of the 
"Academics" living in the latter about the middle of the 
eighteenth century. Fifteen college men in a population of 
nearly a hundred thousand is not, it must be admitted, a large 
proportion.^ But if it be remembered that New York had had a 
home college for only two years and that its men of wealth were, 
almost without exception. Huguenot merchants and Dutch 
traders, it will not seem surprising that they rushed their sons 
from the grammar school to the frontier, the counting house, or 
the West Indies, when, a century and a half later, their descend- 
ants are still debating the advantages of education in a mer- 
cantile career. 

Nevertheless, the Hst as it stands is too short, for it omits 
the name of at least one university man, the vigor and breadth 
of whose intellectual Hfe was nothing less than astonishing. 
This was Cadwallader Golden, long-time member of the council 
of New York, surveyor-general and lieutenant-governor. The 
son of a Scotch parson, he, too, had been destined by his family 
for the church, and with that end in view his father prepared 

1 William Smith's " History of the Late Province of New York," Vol. II, pp. 
371 and 389-390. 

B I 



Cadwallader Colden 



him for college and entered him at the University of Edinburgh. 
At the time, nothing would have seemed more unHkely than 
that the solemn, hard-working boy should overturn this purpose 
But once outside the manse, he developed extraordinary ambi- 
tion, and the mere rudiments of science then taught at the 
Umversity roused in him an enthusiasm that was to be lifelong ^ 
Together they made the humdrum existence of a lowland 
mimster seem intolerable. Moreover, he was convinced that 
his talents lay in another direction, and on his graduation in 
1705 he went up to London to study medicine. And just as 
Edinburgh had won him to science, London won him to herself 
and he felt that hfe would scarcely be worth the living could 
he not be a factor in her stirring progress. He shrank from 
mediocrity with his whole soul, and he felt powerless to resist 
It without the inspiration and opportunities of the wonderful 
town. By the time his studies were over, however, he had 
learned that success in London required money, and of that he 
had none. So when a sister of his mother's, a notable widow 
hvmg in Philadelphia, wrote, suggesting that he set up his 
practice in that place, the possibiUties of life in the New World 
offered such an attractive solution of his problem that before 
many months he was deep in the activities of the Quaker 
capital. 

Here, finding that for a time patients were hkely to be few 
he became interested in trade, more than once going with his 
cargoes through the colonies to the south and among the islands 
in the Caribbean. But he was restless and unsettled, and his 
family had reason for their expectation that he would soon be 
among them again. And after five years of hard work he did 
go home, but only to return the next year, this time with a wife 

jThe authorities for Colden's early life are his copies of letters to Peter 
fnlheT' ^\"l^"' and to Peter Kalm. 1750, as weU as his correspondence 
m the New York Historical Society's Collection, 1711-173^. 



A Colonial Savant 3 

and determined to be a colonist for good. His practice now 
claimed more and more of his attention, and when, in 1718, he 
journeyed up to New York for rest and recreation, he had every 
idea of being a Philadelphia doctor for the rest of his Ufe. But 
when he called on the governor to pay his respects, the shrewd 
Scotchman then in the office marked him at once as a man of 
unusual abihty. Again and again during his short stay he 
summoned him to the Fort, and a few months later wrote, invitmg 
him to come to New York as master in chancery and surveyor- 
general. 

Colden was taken completely by surprise, but he did not 
hesitate long. Colonial physicians made their fortunes slowly, 
and Colden had already more than once been forced to decide 
between more books and mere bread and clothes for his family. 
Moreover, the desire to serve his country had always been a 
part of his more personal ambition. On the other hand, he 
was becoming known as a scientist. When at home three years 
before, he had met Edmund Halley, the astronomer, who had 
shown much interest in his work, and he had also attracted 
the attention of the Royal Society, his paper on "Animal Secre- 
tion" having been read at one of its meetings. But he scarcely 
reahzed how many of his keenest pleasures would have to be 
sacrificed if he went to New York, while he saw the advantages 
of the move very clearly. He therefore accepted Governor 
Hunter's offer, and in the autumn of the same year entered the 
pubUc service of the colony, in which service he was to die 
fifty-eight years later. During much of this time he was deep 
in factional poUtics, sometimes, as the silent spokesman of his 
party, writing his chief's letters, messages, speeches; sometimes 
the chief himself; yet for many years spending six months of 
the twelve in the open, and producing an almost continuous 
succession of letters and memorials on a hundred timely 
topics. 



4 Cadwallader Colden 

Under these circumstances, his scientific and literary attain- 
ments, however deficient in permanent results, must be consid- 
ered remarkable. Indeed, his tastes and activities were so 
varied, he came in contact with so many men of so many minds, 
that his opportunities for influence were unusual, and he might 
have been more powerful than the governor himself. Yet, 
for some reason, he just missed greatness in each special line 
of effort and as a whole. Given a more commanding physique, 
greater charm of manner, a more buoyant temperament, and 
contemporary applause at least might have been won. But, 
as it was, an insignificant presence, an oftentimes petty sensi- 
tiveness, and a formahty of demeanour that rarely unbent save 
to his wife, prevented his turning a unique position to the 
best account. Yet his admirable quahties of mind and heart 
brought him the devotion of his official servants and the affec- 
tionate reverence of his family, while his friends believed in 
him and worked for him to the end, despite the discomfort 
he often caused them by his moodiness and caprice. 

Arrived in New York, Colden 's new occupations at first 
proved so absorbing that all real scientific work was for the 
time laid aside ; but his trained powers of observation and 
accuracy of statement found plenty of exercise in the presenta- 
tion of the plans for colonial expansion formed by the governor 
who had succeeded his first patron. Moreover, this enhghtened 
ofl&cial promised him a small salary for compiling a catalogue 
of the plants and animals of New York. The necessary investi- 
gation could have been made on his surveys, but Horace Wal- 
pole, the auditor- general, chose that moment to demand his 
arrears, which put an end to all unnecessary expenditures. So 
Colden turned his scanty leisure to other uses, and in 1727 the 
first part of the work to which, perhaps, he has chiefly owed his 
literary reputation, was pubHshed in New York by William 
Bradford. 



A Colonial Savant 5 

This was his ''History of the Five Indian Nations." ^ The 
work of his office had thrown him much among this people, 
especially the Mohawks. Sometimes he had been weeks and 
even months alone with them in the wilderness of central New 
York ; he had been treated by them as a brother, being regu- 
larly adopted into the Mohawk tribe, and of their loyalty and 
honour he was convinced. He believed that they could become 
self-supporting in a less precarious way, and had interested 
himself in their knowledge of form and colour. Indeed, his 
inabiUty to keep a skilled interpreter had alone prevented him 
from spending still more time in their study and in forming plans 
for their development. But his history is not enUvened by this 
intimate knowledge. Based confessedly on the French narra- 
tives of De la Potherie and La Hontan, it is a dry and not 
always consecutive and clear account of the wars and treaties 
of the Five Nations from the earUest times to the close of the 
seventeenth century. He fails, or rather does not even attempt, 
to humanize his subject, and in his introduction, alone, indicates 
its practical importance. Yet, Umited in scope as the book 
was, it still remains one of the authorities for the history of the 
Iroquois, and at the time had an instant success. The edition 
of five hundred copies was quickly disposed of, and its readers 
were not confined to the colonies. The eighteenth century was 
distinctly the age of the dilettanti. Anything, provided it was 
"curious," was eagerly welcomed. Hence, the first EngUsh 
account of a race whose fortunes were bound up with those of 
the leading colonizing nations of the time was read less on 
account of its merits than of its novelty. But he who read 
could not but learn something of names and places. And 
knowledge of the American situation was desirable for Eng- 
lishmen in those days, when the outbreak of war with France 

' " The History Of The Five Indian Nations Depending On The Province of 
New York," by Cadwallader Golden. New York, 1727. 



6 Cadwallader Colden 

was to see them under the leadership of a prime minister, who, 
it was said, heard with amazement that Cape Breton, the 
strategic point of the contest, was an island, running off to tell 
the king the "good news. "^ 

About the year 1729, Colden, influenced by an uncongenial 
poHtical environment and by the expense and difficulty of bring- 
ing up his family in town, decided to live on the estate which 
had been granted him along the Hne between Ulster and Orange 
counties. He had called his manor, where he had already 
built himself a manor-house, Coldengham, and there for the 
next twenty years he spent his happiest moments. To his 
mind a man could justify his existence only by accomplishing 
something for the advancement of knowledge or the improve- 
ment of the world as a place to live in. So, when disheartened 
by failure in science and politics, he used to remind himself 
that he had claimed a Uttle corner of the universe from the 
forest, the bears, and the wolves. Intelligent care, in fact, did 
more, and before many years his delighted eyes saw his acres 
so transformed that they brought to mind the lovely country- 
seats of southern Scotland and England. Often he was forced 
to be away from this charming spot nine months in a year, and 
at the best of times he was frequently absent. But when at 
home, his wife, who was his comrade as well, his children, his 
soils and his planting, his books, and, above all, his "specula- 
tions," as he called his scientific experiments, left him with but 
one desire ungratified. 

This was his natural longing for some one with whom to com- 
pare notes, some fellow-investigator with like difficulties and 
enthusiasms. For some years he had corresponded with his 
wife's cousin, James Logan, the Pennsylvania ofl&cial and 
naturalist. But Logan had snubbed Colden 's tendency to pry 
into matters of pure conjecture, and the peace was with difficulty 

' Macaulay's Essay on Horace Walpole. 



A Colonial Savant 7 

kept between them ; the spirited comparison of cases which had 
at one time passed between himself and certain other physicians 
had been gradually pushed aside by other business and lack of 
fresh experience on his part; and his friend and fellow- coun- 
cillor, James Alexander, was forced to fill his sheets with a run- 
ning description of the political situation. There remained a 
friend of his youth, a Boston physician. Dr. William Douglass. 
With the range of their topics limited only by the universe, 
he and Golden had first talked and then written with Uttle 
thought of economy until the removal to Coldengham. Thence, 
however, to Boston, the distance was great and postage expen- 
sive, so letters became few. But Golden never had a want 
without attempting to satisfy it. He suggested to Douglass 
the formation of a literary and scientific society with head- 
quarters at Boston, each member of which was to contribute 
a paper once in six months, to be criticised by the Boston mem- 
bers, corrected, and then printed. And in 1736 the first publica- 
tion of a society on these lines, but composed wholly of medical 
men, was issued at Boston,^ while in 1743 a far more important 
result of his eagerness for intellectual sympathy appeared in 
Philadelphia. This was the American Philosophical Society, 
whose annual discussions have been maintained continuously 
from that day to the present, the suggestion that this society 
should be formed being generously credited to Golden, by its 
organizer and leader, Benjamin Franklin.^ 

Meanwhile, however, Golden had gained a correspondent 
who satisfied his every requirement, and became indeed, not 
only his friend but his banker, political agent, business manager, 
critic, and inspiration. This fortunate acquisition was Peter 

* Letter from William Douglass, 17th February, 1736. 

^ This claim is made in a " Biographical Sketch of Cadwallader Colden," in 
The American Medical and Philosophical Register, 181 1, Vol. I, pp. 297-303. 
The letters, however, do not sustain it, Franklin merely thanking Colden for the 
suggestion of some philosophical publication. His letter was written November 
28, 1745. 



S Cadwallader Colden 

Collinson, a wealthy London merchant. A naturaUst himself, 
with a beautiful garden near London full of rare vegetables 
and fruits, and numbering among his correspondents scientists 
in every country in Europe, he yet was simphcity and enthusiasm 
personified. With ingenuous fervor, he thanks Providence for 
letting him Uve to see the pair of moose horns sent from America 
to the Duke of Richmond; he throws himself with impartiaUty 
mto the affairs of the earth, the air, and the water; and over the 
first experiments in electricity, the newly discovered power 
that could lay a "lusty" Irish bishop on the ground, he is fairly 
beside himself. 

Gradually, moreover, other men of Hke tastes came into his 
life, each stirring his ambition by the incentive of a hearty ad- 
miration. Among these was John Bartram, the owner of the 
first botanical garden in America, at Kingsessing, near Phila- 
delphia. A simple Quaker farmer, a chance glance at a daisy 
m a furrow had so stirred him that the next morning he walked 
mto Philadelphia, went directly to a book shop and asked for a 
book which could tell him about flowers and leaves. And 
slowly he had mastered the science of botany, learning languages 
by the way, until he had become the valued agent and corre- 
spondent of English noblemen and continental savants, for whom 
he made observations and collected specimens. Exploring the 
Appalachian slope from Connecticut to the Carolinas, in all 
weathers, at all times of the year, acquiring an influence with the 
Indians that his province was quick to employ, sometimes ill 
from exposure, yet always eager and cheerful, he was at the 
same time a practical and successful farmer, retaining the lead- 
ership of his family and servants in fine patriarchal fashion. 
Simple and single minded, it was hard to be anything else in 
that serene presence, and there Colden could always forget 
the difficulties that continually beset him.^ 

Letters from an American Farmer," by J. Hestor St. John. Philadelphia, 
1793- Letter XI, p. 189. ^ 



A Colonial Savant 9 

A friend of a different sort was John Rutherford, a young 
Scotchman who had come over to command the regulars at 
Albany. Rutherford belonged to one of the county famihes 
who had been admirers of Golden 's father, and despite his 
youth had served seven years in Parhament. Of a distinctly 
social nature, a man of affairs and action, he, too, was a student 
of the same eager type, and, though separated from friends and 
family, could find the idleness of a long Albany winter, "per- 
fectly agreable" when spent in the company of mathematics, 
philosophy, and politics. 

Then there was Linnaeus, the great Swedish botanist; his 
pupil Gronovius; Peter Kalm, who had been sent to America 
on a tour of investigation by the Royal Academy of Stockholm ; 
Samuel Johnson, who was to be the first president of King's 
College; and, above all, Benjamin Franklin. He and Golden 
had fallen in with each other one day on a journey ; riding awhile 
in company, Golden had suggested a correspondence, and a long 
series of letters resulted. In these FrankUn is deUghtful. Per- 
fectly open about his own experiments, confiding the first sug- 
gestions of some of his most noted discoveries, it is in Golden's 
that he seems most interested, and no hint of superiority ever 
escapes him. Always sympathetic, ready to give pubHc ex- 
pression to his confidence and admiration, quick to offer practical 
assistance as printer and publisher, his friendship was no mere 
sentiment, and was as helpful as it was charming. 

Besides these new friends, moreover, James Alexander, re- 
lieved involuntarily from pubhc business, was devoting his in- 
creased leisure to scientific research. Under no illusions as to 
his own powers, he was content to experiment in well-trodden 
fields, but he beUeved that Golden could do more and vigor- 
ously prodded him on, while saving him from annoying details 
and doing for him in America what Gollinson was doing in 
England. In return, Golden dedicated to him in terms of 



10 Cadwallader C olden 

unusual warmth a little volume which he hoped would transmit 
the names of them both to posterity. The regard of posterity, 
indeed, was a subject of which Golden and his two closest 
friends thought entirely too much, and there is something absurd 
as well as touching in their efforts to make sure of recognition 
by that impartial judge. And had "An Explanation of the 
First Causes of Action in Matter, And of the Cause of Gravita- 
tion " * measured up to its title such recognition would doubtless 
have been won. But no definite conclusions have ever been 
accepted by science concerning the problems whose solution 
Golden offers with these confident words: "Though I may 
not pretend to have acquired a perfect and adequate conception 
of what I treat, or that I have fallen upon the best Method of 
conveying to others the Conception which I have formed my- 
self, on this Subject; the Force of the Evidence on my Mind 
is as strong as that of Day Light after the Sun is up in cloudy 
weather." 

Newton had written to Bentley that he wished it expressly 
understood that he made no pretensions to a knowledge of the 
workings of the law of gravitation. He only knew that it was 
absurd to suppose that one body could act on another save by 
mediate or immediate contact, but the medium might be either 
material or immaterial, and he had no theories about it what- 
ever. This medium Golden now assumed to have discovered, 
and his line of argument was somewhat as follows: Matter, 
recogrfizable by its essential qualities, extension, and impene- 
trability, is, he demonstrates, divided into three classes, each of 
which is the agent of an exclusive force, motion, resistance, and 
reaction respectively. The characteristic example of the third 
species is ether, a continuous material substance, and the re- 
sult of its contact with bodies of resisting and moving matter 

'Or, "ThePrinciples of ActioninMatter." New York, 1745: London, 1746, 
8vo, pp. 75. 



A Colonial Savant ii 

is gravitation. This interaction is worked out mathematically 
and so clearly that, as Maria Edgeworth says of Cuvier's 
"Theoryof the Earth," "it is intelligible tothemeanest capacity." 
But that moving matter is inherently different from resisting 
matter, because motion and the power of resistance, of which 
they are respectively the agents, are impenetrable to each other, 
and that moving matter moves of itself, and not by the action 
of some external force, is so contrary to knowledge and experi- 
ence that the following demonstration, if interesting, is not 
convincing. Moreover, setting aside the proof, whose faulti- 
ness Golden had feared might obscure the truth of his concep- 
tion, and considering the theorem itself, the discovery from 
which he hoped so much, it must be admitted, was not a dis- 
covery at all, but had already been exploited toward the close 
of the preceding century by James Bernouilli, of the famous 
Basel family. That Golden was conscious of this is, however, 
inconceivable. So it must be concluded either that he had 
never read BernouilH's treatise, or that having read it when 
young, its ideas had lain dormant in his mind until, becoming 
active, he had mistaken them for his own. 

At any rate, the fact made Uttle impression on Golden 's 
friends. When James Logan, for instance, told FrankUn of 
BernouilH's treatise, Franklin was quite satisfied when he added 
his behef that Golden had never seen it,^ and when some foreign 
mathematician said unpleasant things about plagiarism, Gol- 
linson ascribed it to a defective understanding,^ and Fr?nklin 
to envy.^ Still, even FrankHn and GoUinson were obliged to con- 
fess that those of their friends who had read it found it obscure 
and even unintelhgible, and though FrankUn was sure that this 
was due to insufficient knowledge on their part, he could but 

• Letter from Franklin, October i6, 1746. 

* Letter from Collinson, August 3, 1747. 

' Letter from Franklin, January, 1747/8. 



12 Cadwallader C olden 

add that he was having much difficulty with it himself. But 
the main thing was to get people to read it at all. It was a bad 
time for abstract philosophy. England, whose book trade has 
always been peculiarly sensitive to public events, was engaged 
in war with France, and her colonies were helping her as they 
had never helped before. Indeed, Golden had sent his first 
copies to Collinson with an apology for being absorbed in phi- 
losophy when all the world could think of nothing but the blow 
that was preparing against New France. 

But though many Englishmen said they were too busy to read 
Colden's thesis and others that they could not understand it, the 
Prince of Wales's bookseller was sufficiently impressed with its 
possibilities to set up, without Colden's consent or even knowl- 
edge, an edition of his own. So when Colden's second packet ar- 
rived a year later, Collinson found England so well supplied that 
he was obliged to seek a market on the continent.^ Here, the 
Germans found the last nine pages absolutely incomprehensible, 
but for the sake of the first thirty-four an edition was printed 
at Leipsic and Hamburg in 1748, accompanied by a commen- 
tary. Of this Colden could not read a word but the proper 
names, which, however, was sufficiently deUghtful, because he 
saw his own in the glorious company of those of Wolpius, New- 
ton, and Leibnitz.^ Indeed, the actual translation made by a 
neighbouring Dutch pastor was disappointing, for by this it 
appeared that the editors had emphasized the metaphysical 
side of the principles, of which Colden had said nothing,^ while 
the same point of view was taken by the author of "Liris Theo- 
logia Metaphysia," which, with Colden's name among others 
on the title-page, was published in London about this time.* 

* Letter from Collinson, March 27, 1746/7. 

' Colden's copy of a letter to Franklin, May 20, 1752. 

* Ibid.y October 24, 1752. 

* Colden's copy of a letter to Collinson, July 7, 1749. 



A Colonial Savant 13 

The attention he attracted abroad, moreover, reacted on his 
reputation at home. Frankhn reported a revival of studious 
habits in Philadelphia, preparatory to a more inteUigent reading 
of his "Explanation," and Logan acknowledged that he had 
been hasty in his first judgments. Yet when Dr. Betts, an 
Oxford don, wrote to Alexander in 1749 to know when Colden 
was going to keep the promise made in the introduction to the 
"Principles,"^ and show their application, Colden told him 
that his was the first word of recognition that had reached him 
from England. But he had not waited for this. In 1751 a 
revised edition of the "Principles," with "The Motion of the 
Planets explained from these," to which was appended a dis- 
cussion of fluxions, was published in London by Dodsley.j 
Newton had died before explaining certain apparent inconsist-' 
encies between his "Principles" and the motion of the planets. 
That they were only apparent has since been proved. But in 
Colden's time this had not been done, and Colden hoped, in- 
stead, satisfactorily to explain planetary motion by his own 
theory. As he says to Dr. Betts: "What I am next going to 
tell you I am very sensible with what danger I say it viz. That 
Sir Isaac Newton's theory of the planet's motion is not perfect." 
But this statement seems almost fatuous when he goes on to! 
say that in a hundred other instances where he had thought 
Newton wrong, he had found it his own misapprehension. 

The new edition was launched with considerable ^clat. 
Dodsley had cheerfully accepted Colden's terms, all the maga- 
zines pubhshed extracts and summaries in successive numbers, 
and Frankhn prophesied that it would "make a great noise." 
But its imphed disloyalty to the great Newton hurt its popu- 
larity from the start. Dodsley's cheerfulness was soon as 
diminished as were his anticipated profits, and when Leonard 
Euler, the great Swiss mathematician, mercilessly pulled the 

> The " Explanation," etc., was also spoken of briefly as the " Principles." 



14 Cadwdllader C olden 

book to pieces and Colden replied to his attack with some bitter- 
ness, he refused to print their respective papers. Even Colhnson 
begged his friend to eUminate the objectionable sections; and 
Colden made the attempt, only to be surer than before of the 
truth which they contained. Moreover, Franklin had taken 
the edge from Euler's sharpness by tracing it to Old World 
prejudice, to the evident reluctance of Europeans to admit the 
possibility of learning anything from "us Americans."^ He 
had himself shortly before affirmed the identity of lightning and 
electricity, and suggested at the same time the means of pro- 
tection from its shocks. This seeming profane to a Gottingen 
professor named Kastner, he had, in a manner "unworthy of 
a philosopher," berated him for presuming to check "the thunder 
of heaven." But he might have saved himself the trouble, for 
FrankUn's latest experiments had proved that the earth is 
electrified positively and the clouds negatively, so that it was 
the thunder of earth, not of heaven, against which he had offered 
safeguards. Of this discovery Colden was the first to be told, 
in the thought that it might be of use to him as well as a mark 
of esteem, not to speak of FrankHn's own desire to share his 
little joke on Kastner with one he could trust. For, as he said 
in his next letter, " 'tis well we are not, as poor Galileo was, 
subject to the Inquisition for philosophical Heresy. My whis- 
pers against the orthodox doctrine in private Letters, would be 
dangerous, your writing and printing would be highly criminal. 
As it is, you must expect some censure but one Heretic will 
surely excuse another." ^ 

Still, though FrankUn valued his own interleaved copy of 
the "Principles" so highly that he would not lend it to so care- 
ful a friend as James Bowdoin, he was so far from believing in 
Colden 's theories himself that he could not, with the rest of the 

' Letter from Franklin, April 12, 1752. 
' Ibid., April 23, 1752. 



A Colonial Savant 15 

world, acknowledge a ''vis inertia'' in matter. In fact, Golden 
had gained no valuable adherents anywhere. His nephew, 
it is true, had sent him two recent philosophies with the assur- 
ance that their authors would alter them according to his sug- 
gestions, and Mr. Samuel Pike, of Hoxton, wrote that his "Phil- 
osophia Sacra" had been inspired by the "Principles." But 
such was his enthusiasm that even Golden suspected he was 
somewhat of "a wag," and though the arrival of a copy of Mr. 
Pike's creation dispelled this suspicion, it left his vanity 
untouched. 

Still not disheartened, he now revised and enlarged his "Prin- 
ciples" once more, adding on this foundation discussions of 
the phenomena of light, of the elasticity of the air, of the co- 
hesion of the parts of water, and of electricity. This last sub- 
ject was treated by his son David, who had already won Frank- 
lin's commendation by his refutation of the theories of the Abb^ 
Nollet. When his manuscript was completed, however. Gol- 
den did not seek a pubhsher, but submitted it to the approval 
of Dr. Bevis, of London. Years went by ; Golden became in 
turn president of the council, acting head of the government, 
and lieutenant-governor; he moved his residence from the 
Ulster manor-house to a Flushing country-seat; and still the 
oracle had vouchsafed no answer. Golden could but think his 
papers despised, though he found it no easier to despise them 
himself, and was still certain they would stand "the strictest 
test." But his new position had shattered his almost 
realized dream of "otium cum dignitaie" his "amusing specu- 
lations" were at an end, and he was "obliged to be perpetually 
in company." Moreover, he was getting to be an old man, 
and he wanted to leave his magnum opus in more considerate 
hands. Hence, on February 25, 1762, he wrote to Robert 
Whyte, Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, 
that Gollinson would send the papers to him on his indicating 



1 6 Cadwallader C olden 

a willingness to read them.* "National Predjudices," he writes, 
"as well as personal often prevail in many points of philosophy. 
Perhaps the Principles which I have adopted may be more 
favourably received in Scotland than in England. You'll par- 
don the fondness which a man naturally has for his own pro- 
ductions when I desire of you, in case you do not think these 
papers proper to appear in public, please to deposit them in 
the library of the University of Edinburgh where I had my 
Education in the Rudiments of Science, for I am persuaded 
they will sometime or other be found to contain the true prin- 
ciples of physical knowledge, and to be of real use. 

"We have no knowledge of substances or of things themselves, 
as little knowledge of material substances as of the Intelligent 
or of Spirit. All our knowledge consists in this that from the 
effects of phenomena we discover something which we call 
substances have the power of producing certain effects. How 
they produce these effects we in no manner conceive. Yet all 
the objections to my principles which I have seen arise from an 
expectation that I should explain in what manner the primarj' 
powers produce their effect." 

Of the fate of the papers, beyond the fact that Dr. Whyte 
advised against their immediate publication with such tact as 
to leave Golden 's vanity unwounded, nothing is known. Their 
truth has probably never since been tested, and whether they 
are mouldering in a dusty corner of the library or were long since 
destroyed in some energetic cleaning, probably no one will ever 
take the trouble to find out. But the old edition long continued 
to be read, and when Buffon lost his copy in 1788, he sent to 
Thomas Jefferson for another, who, though obHged in turn to 
call on Francis Hopkinson for assistance, succeeded in grati- 
fying his request. 

But Golden was not a man of one idea even in physics. Of 

1 The Golden Letter Books, Vol. I. 



A Colonial Savant 17 

this proof may be found in his pamphlets, "On the Properties 
of Light," "An Inquiry into the Causes of Vital Motion," 
"The Causes of Metal Medley swimming in Water," and in 
his "Letter to Lord Macklesfield." Indeed, he was so inter- 
ested in his "Inquiry," that at seventy-seven, too busy to correct 
the whole treatise, he wrote a summary thereof to Whyte in 
order that some one might carry on the idea after his death. 
Unquenchably ambitious, it was well that an equally enduring 
hopefulness kept his old age unembittered by want of success 
where success was most desired. 

The reception of his philosophical theories, moreover, had not 
been his only disappointment. As surveyor-general he had been 
early impressed with the ignorance of his race as to the geography 
of its American possessions. While France had supplied her 
colonial officials with instruments of the latest construction for 
the observations necessary to map-making, England had stood 
passively by, and then accepted the results. How shamefully 
doctored these were, Colden had himself shown, but he had 
little hope of awakening the British government, and instead 
bent his energies to the construction of simpler and more port- 
able instruments, cheap enough to be bought by the colonists 
themselves. But he failed repeatedly. After consultation with 
Alexander, who was experimenting to the same end, he would 
send his invention to Collinson for submission to experts, only 
to hear that his idea had been proved defective a hundred years 
before, or that he had overlooked some obvious difficulty. 

Again, having experienced the author's difficulty of forcast- 
ing the demand for his works, he sought a remedy in a new 
method of printing. He proposed, instead of the ordinary 
movable types, the use of metal sheets, resembhng pages of 
type, or, in other words, an inverted leaden facsimile of the book 
to be printed. This, he acknowledged, would make the first 
expense heavy, but the first would be approximately the only 



1 8 Cadwallader C olden 

outlay, as successive imprints would be at a nominal cost, as 
in engraving. By this method additions and corrections could 
be easily made, the supply would conform exactly to the demand, 
and in the case of an unsuccessful book, there would be no loss 
in paper and the metal could be used again. Moreover, the 
number of unsuccessful books would be reduced and author- 
ship would not be lightly assumed. As in the matter of the 
quadrants just referred to, however, he had no such confidence 
in his scheme as the "Principles" had inspired. He was not 
sure that it was practicable, and after a doubtful letter from 
Frankhn, to whom he had sent it, he seems to have made no 
further attempt to exploit it. But his method was entirely 
practicable, for it was what is now known as stereotyping, the 
invention of which is credited to WilHam Ged, an Edinburgh 
printer, though the honour has been claimed for a Dutchman 
named Von der Rey and others. Ged discovered the process 
about 1725, ten years after Golden finally left Scotland, but he 
did not apply it with success until 1739, about four years before 
Golden sent his scheme to FrankUn. Whether Golden had 
ever heard of Ged or Von der Rey it is impossible to say. Years 
after his death, however, his scheme was printed in an American 
scientific magazine, and the editors state it to be the current 
opinion that stereotyping was invented by a Mr. Herhan, who 
was at that time practising it in Paris under letters patent from 
Napoleon. Moreover, they add that it is their belief that 
Herhan had made use of Golden's own idea, having found it 
among the papers of his old employer, to whom Franklin had 
probably communicated it.* But Golden's share in the matter 
apparently has not survived the shock of investigation, or 

^ American Medical and Philosophical Register, 181 1, pp. 439-450. "Origi- 
nal paper on a new method of printing discovered by him (Cadwallader Col- 
den) with an original letter from Dr. Franklin and some accounts of stereotyping 
as now practised in Europe, etc. by the editors." 



A Colonial Savant 19 

rather, Herhan has himself been forgotten. So, once again, 
Golden was either his own dupe, mistaking another's inspira- 
tion for his own, or the unfortunate man last to pick up a 
sporadic idea. 

About this time, however, he achieved a real success. Al- 
ways interested in botany, he had felt himself too ignorant for 
effective work until, nearly thirty years after his removal to the 
colonies, he fell in with a volume of Linnseus. Charmed with 
his method, he grasped it with such ease that he was soon able 
to send over the sea the flora to which he had access, analyzed 
and classified according to its principles. The Swedish botanist 
was astonished and dehghted at such quickness of apprehension, 
and a pleasant exchange of books and letters ensued. But there 
were other things more pleasant still. Thus, "Acta Upsal- 
ensia" for 1743 contains: " Plantae Coldenghamiae in Provincia 
Novo Eboraceni spontanae crescentes quae ad me methodum 
Linnaei sexulem observavit Cadwallader Golden";^ Linnaeus 
named a newly discovered genus of plants Goldenia;^ Golden 's 
acquaintance was sought by well-known botanists; and the 
inevitable request for the story of his life, for pubHcation in a 
"Biographica Botanicorum," arrived promptly.^ 

About this time, also. Golden spent a winter's leisure in re- 
vising his Indian history, writing a new introduction and put- 
ting in order material which he had collected years before, 
bringing it down to the peace of Ryswick. He had taken up 
this work unexpectedly to himself and at the urgent request 
of Golhnson, who assured him that the London publishers 
would be only too glad to get hold of it. But GolUnson was too 
sanguine, and the manuscript remained in his possession five 

* From Joh. Fred. Gronovius, August 6, 1744. 

2 Letter from Franklin, October 16, 1746; letter from Collinson, November 

5. 1747- 

* From Peter Kalm, January 4, 1750. 



20 Cadwallader Colden 

years before he found a publisher who was ready to make satis- 
factory terms. Indeed, he managed the whole thing with in- 
different success, for being out of town when the edition at 
length went to the printer, he failed to prevent the insertion of 
the charters of Pennsylvania, and the substitution of a dedi- 
cation to Oglethorpe, besides many minor changes. Colden 
was disgusted, though not at Colhnson, while Thomas Osborne 
the pubUsher, soon had his own complaints. For, although 
the value of the edition was enhanced by the text of numerous 
Indian treaties, and by the addition of Colden's famous pam- 
phlet on the fur trade, it proved a disappointment to him also. 
Pronounced by FrankUn to be a "well- wrote, entertaining and 
instructive piece," and "received in the world with great repu- 
tation," ^ the demand for it dropped suddenly and soon. Os- 
borne was obhged almost to give it away, vowing the while that 
he would never again publish save for ready money ; and when 
Colden asked what encouragement he could give him to con- 
tinue his narrative, he repHed that he could give him none 
whatever. His frankness proved crushing to Colden's revived 
interest, and he never again made a formal contribution to his- 
tory. Some years later, however, on reading William Smith's 
newly published history, he became so exasperated, his preju- 
dices, personal and political, were so outraged, that he deter- 
mined to provide the historian of the future with a critical guide 
to its pages. And this he did in a series of letters to his son, 
written at Coldengham in the winter of 1759-60. Their dis- 
cussion, however, belongs more properly to the consideration 
of his political career. 

Naturally enough, Colden was much interested in education, 
and his views on the subject are surprisingly progressive. 
Narrow and inflexible though he was in his poKtical convic- 
tions, in social, intellectual, and, to a certain extent, in religious 

' From Franklin, January 27, 1747. 



A Colonial Savant 21 

matters, his ability to see the other side of the question was 
considerable. He could, to be sure, see no virtue under what 
seemed to him the self-complacency of those spiritual radicals, 
the Independents, as he heard, on the one hand, their lofty pre- 
tensions, and saw, on the other, the mortal errors of their Uves. 
But seekers after truth of all shades of beUef had the sympathy 
of this Scotch dominie's son, while a strongly developed sense 
of proportion kept him from provincialism in his habits of thought 
and Ufe. His aunt, indeed, regarded his adaptabihty with 
horror, and spoke her mind with Quaker bluntness, whereupon 
Golden explained his position in a letter so characteristic of 
his most attractive side that it is here given in full. 

"Madam: 

" I came from home last Friday morning and left my wife and 
children in the country and in good health and found Sandy 
and Betty in good health in this place. My wife wrote to you 
from the Country but we have not heard from you since you 
wrote to me when I was last in this place. I was extremely 
concerned to find that you was not pleased with our sending 
the children to town. We had no design beside giving them 
some Education that they cannot have in the country and to 
rub off some of the country awkwardness which is a great dis- 
advantage to young people that expect some time to be in Com- 
pany and our sending them to the dancing school was only in 
compliance with the customs of the Country which we cannot 
bring to our own humours and with which we must comply 
if we live in the Country where such manners are used. They 
are both now of those years as they must be in Company unless 
they were to be moaped up in the woods and give up all hopes of 
advancing themselves in the world. I never had the least 
thoughts of making a priest of Sandy but his learning Latin 
with the minister last winter will be of use if he apply himself 



22 



Cadwallader Colden 



either to Law or Physick and, indeed, in almost all affairs or 
Business of life . . . It gives us a great deal of concern that we 
can be of no use to you under the infirmities of old age by reason 
of our distance from you. I thought that it would have given 
you some satisfaction to have seen me and Sandy and for that 
reason I was resolv'd to have carried him with me this fall to 
pay our Duty to you but you have forbid it in such a manner 
that I shall not attempt it without your leave. I hope none of 
us have done anything to disobUge you. It would give me the 
greatest grief if you entertained the least thought of any want 
of Duty especially if you should think so of me for you must at 
the same time think me the most ungrateful man to the kindest 
relation. I must again beg of you to write to me that I may 
not have any reason to suspect that your love to me is lessened 
for I really cannot bear the thoughts of its. Sandy and Betty 
pray that you will accept of their Duty to you. All my friends 
give me a good account of their Behaviour and Betty is taken 
much notice of by the best famihes in the town. 
" I am Madam Yr. most dutiful nephew 

"Cadwallader Colden. 
"New York, October 23rd, 1734-" 

It seems to be a matter of general belief that the double func- 
tion of education, on the one hand to fit man for service as citi- 
zen and as patriot, and on the other to increase his own power 
of enjoyment has been but lately perceived, and that our fore- 
fathers founded universities for the purpose of turning out mere 
scholars or polishing off the man of leisure. But the modern 
creed is professed in so many words, in a letter of Colden's 
acknowledging the receipt of the prospectus of the new Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. Moreover, after congratulating its pro- 
moters for including an agricuhural department in their scheme, 
he proceeds to give some interesting suggestions. It was his 



A Colonial Savant 23 

opinion that the beauty and strength of the English tongue 
should be particularly emphasized by instructors, and that no 
other language should be required for entrance, but that Latin 
and Greek should be included in the courses of law, theology, 
and science, while prospective merchants should study French. 
But he wrote chiefly to urge the necessity of symmetrical devel- 
opment. Knowledge was good, yet to be effective it must be 
fortified by character, ease of manner, dignity of bearing. There- 
fore, professors and masters should be chosen with reference to 
their hearts as well as their heads, the importance of dancing, 
oratory, and theatricals should be realized, and — antique 
touch — due attention should be given to precedence.^ 

Golden, moreover, had his theories on the education of younger 
people, and when gay Betty Golden had married Peter Delancey 
and become a thoughtful matron, oppressed by anxiety for the 
present and eternal welfare of a lot of Uvely children, it was to 
her father that she turned for guidance. "The Economy of 
Human Life" and "Dialogues on Education," though she 
bought and studied them when advised to, could not satisfy 
her as did the suggestions of his experience. These she strug- 
gled to carry out literally, and when it proved impossible to 
send the boys away from home, she set herself to accompUsh 
the alternative, the maintenance of a serene mind and the 
transformation of their lessons from drudgery into pleasure. 
And she undertook this, though she remembered that the com- 
bined efforts of their father, their tutor, and herself had been re- 
quired to make her sons study at all, and feared that the intro- 
duction of pleasure into the equation would eliminate the Uttle 
application that was theirs.^ 

According to his lights, also. Golden had concern for the 

* Written about November i6, 1749. 

* Colden's copy of a letter to Elizabeth Delancey, June 17, 1752; Elizabeth 
Delancey to her father, August 14, 1753; ihid., February 20, 1754. 



24 Cadwallader Colden 

higher education of women. When urging Collinson at one 
time to catalogue the flora of Great Britain, he suggests the use 
of the English language, one of his reasons being that the book 
would thus be thrown open to women, who, he thinks, are espe- 
cially adapted to the study of botany because of their curiosity, 
quickness, and accuracy. On another occasion, when sending 
for certain books on the same science, and containing colored 
plates, to be given to his daughter Jane, he says that botany 
seems to him so preferable to the usual feminine pastimes that 
he wants his daughter's interest encouraged in every possible 
way. Therefore, as she cannot have botanical gardens, she 
must have the next best thing. But it is only necessary to con- 
sider the confidence he reposed in the sense and judgment of 
his wife, whose poUtical knowledge he made equal to his own, 
to know that he had a dormant belief in the capacity of woman 
to do what she would, which only needed to be developed by 
circumstances. 

Particularly interesting is Colden's endeavour to use his own 
knowledge for general public enlightenment. In one way or 
another he was always doing this, but a notable instance occurred 
during the fever epidemic of 1741-42. Colden and others 
felt that the filthy condition of the sUps, the existence of tar 
pits within the city limits, and the fact that the cellars of many 
houses were filled with water, while many other houses had no 
cellars at all, had had much to do with the outbreak, and Colden, 
at least, determined to do something about it. So he published 
an article in which he showed by certain historical examples that 
epidemics always sprang from, or were nurtured by, the very 
sanitary conditions which then surrounded the inhabitants of 
the city. But he felt that their general improvement could not 
be brought about by an appeal to the public spirit, personal 
pride, and self-interest of the individual citizens, and urged the 
corporation to take up the matter, to put the city in order, and 



A Colonial Savant 25 

promise to pay damages to all who suffered from an unhealthy 
environment. Thanks to an approaching election, his effort 
was most successful. The city fathers put in force a series of 
sanitary ordinances whose existence had been forgotten and 
made and enforced still others, so that by the time the inevitable 
reaction overtook their virtue, much permanent good had been 
done. The cordial expression of thanks which was voted to 
Colden by the city was well deserved. 

But the tale of his accomplishments is not quite told. He was 
particularly interested in the alleviation of cancer, and, besides 
a wide correspondence on the subject, he wrote two papers on 
its treatment and cure. One of these, in fact, which discussed 
the efficacy of pokeweed, or the great water dock, first brought 
him to the notice of Linnaeus. Another paper on an epidemic 
sore throat which swept through New England about the middle 
of the century,^ and a fourth on the medicinal properties of tar 
water, gained him much local reputation. In the sphere of 
moral and mental philosophy, he treated "The Operation of 
Intellect in Animals" with much originality, and of his "Prin- 
ciples of Morality" Samuel Johnson said: "Your beautiful 
little draught . . . has been read three times with increasing 
pleasure. It is an easy, gradual, and natural progress from 
physics to metaphysics and thence to morality." ^ Moreover, 
in this connection it is interesting to note his own theory of the 
relations of mind and matter as he states it in his letter to Dr. 
Whyte: "From the evident effects of wisdom and from a chain 
of effects all tending to the same purpose or end I conclude that 
an inteUigent being exists, but I cannot allow that Intelhgence 
can give motion or resist motion, for in that case I must with 
Dr. Berkeley deny that any other being exists, for on such sup- 

' Addressed first to Dr. Fothergill in 1753 and published in 1755; repub- 
lished in Carey's American Museum. 
2 April IS, 1747. 



26 Cadwallader Colden 

position they become useless, I conceive that Intelligence may 
give a certain direction when the direction of the action of these 
powers is determined by their power. . . . The Intelligent power 
never opposes the material or other powers, but the material are 
necessary to the Intelligent in producing a certain effect for a 
certain purpose." ^ 

An "Introduction to the Study of Philosophy" for one of the 
naughty Delancey boys, a set of astronomical tables compiled 
from his own observations, and a translation of Cicero's letters 
at length completes the Ust of Colden 's strictly non-political 
writings. He did not, indeed, bury his talents, and if he made 
the mistake of seeing them double and so diminishing his force 
at any one point, he gave to those who understood, an example 
of high ambition and ceaseless industry, which was an achieve- 
ment in itself. It is pleasant to know that his faculties never 
failed him, and that he died after a year of retirement spent 
in cheerful intercourse with his family and friends, and only 
clouded by the beginnings of that Revolution whose shadow 
he had seen so long before. 

' Colden Letter Books, I, 463-465. 



A COLONIAL SURVEYOR GENERAL 

When the young Scotch physician, Cadwallader Golden, 
accepted the invitation of Governor Hunter to settle in New 
York, he did so on the promise of being the next surveyor 
general, the offices of weigh master and master in Chancery in 
which he was at once installed being of secondary importance. 
In the summer of 17 19, however. Hunter went home on leave 
of absence with many assurances of a speedy return, and on 
his departure the administration devolved on the oldest council- 
lor in point of service. Colonel Peter Schuyler. Schuyler and 
Hunter had not been friendly, and, moreover, Schuyler was 
intimately associated with one of Hunter's strongest opponents, 
Adolph Phillipse. Naturally enough, then, in the expectation 
of Hunter's return or the arrival of a new governor in whose 
selection it was known that Hunter would be influential, it 
was determined to make a full and immediate use of the power 
of patronage attached to the office of commander-in-chief. At 
this point Augustine Graham, who had actually been surveyor 
general, died, and in disregard of Hunter's promises Captain 
Allane Jarratt was appointed his successor. But Colden had a 
powerful friend at court. The announcement of this and 
other appointments left New York in October, 17 19, and by 
the middle of April, 1720, Schuyler received orders to make no 
more changes and to appoint Colden in Jarratt's place. He 
could but obey, and Colden commenced his important and 
difficult task. 

He found the affairs of the office in a state of ahnost hopeless 

27 



28 Cadwallader C olden 

confusion.^ James II, when Duke of York and proprietor of 
the province, had empowered his governors to grant his lands, 
and they had, on the whole, not abused their trusts. The 
grants of Nicolls and Lovelace, for instance, were mostly small, 
that is, under two hundred acres, but a previous survey was 
not required and the boundaries were indefinite. The grants 
stipulated variously for the usual rent, or for the usual rent 
and such services as the governor or his deputies might require, 
or, finally, for such rent as the governors might establish, or such 
rent as would later be determined by the laws of the colony. 
Sometimes the rent was mentioned, but it was not in proportion 
to the quantity of land, and, while occasionally considerable, 
was often a mere trifle. Improvement within a certain time was 
compulsory, and timber was reserved for the public. Andros, 
the third provincial governor, kept along the safe lines laid down 
by his predecessors. In addition, his grants named a quit- 
rent, which was usually one bushel of winter wheat for land 
enough for one family, this being one hundred, eighty, or fifty 
acres, according to the qualities of the soil. The bounds were 
generally clear, as there were few instances of grants without 
a previous survey, and the tracts were still small. Among the 
unsurveyed patents, however. Golden found one remarkable 
example of the necessity of carefully recorded bounds. Andros 
had granted two men of Albany a tract of two hundred acres, 
at half a bushel of wheat rent; in Colden's time their heirs 
claimed more than sixty thousand acres. But the rents of all 
these patents were decided to have lapsed because of the change 
to a representative government ; so that during the first half of 
the eighteenth century there were more than a thousand hold- 
ings that paid nothing at all. 

' Colden's Memorial to Cosby, O'Callaghan's Documentary History of New 
York, I, 247, and the Board of Trade's Representation, New York Colonial 
Documents, VI, 650. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 29 

New York now became a royal province, and the governors 
of such provinces could always grant lands under the reserva- 
tion of certain quit-rents. Accordingly, Dongan, the first 
royal governor, was empowered to grant lands "under the 
reservation of such moderate quit-rents, services, and acknowl- 
edgments as he and his Council might think proper." The 
grants were first to be surveyed by the pubhc surveyor, issued 
under the seal of New York, and recorded. The quit- rents 
were generally proportional to the quantity of land, and averaged 
one bushel of wheat to a hundred acres, their slight variation 
probably being due to differences of soil and situation. As 
a matter of fact the land grants which date from Dongan's 
time were never actually surveyed but merely estimated and 
described, and these general descriptions afforded an oppor- 
tunity for fraud on a large scale. Tracts were bounded by 
certain turnings of certain branches of certain kills or rivers; 
they extended to the foot of certain hills; they stretched from 
one notched tree to another without measuring the distance 
between. Some patents granted a certain piece of "flatts" 
or lowland, with a certain number of acres adjoining, and men- 
tioned no bounds whatever; others, a certain number of acres 
of profitable land, besides waste and woodland, at a time when 
the whole face of unappropriated country was covered with 
woods, some of the grantees, moreover, claiming about this 
time ten, twenty, or even a hundred times as many acres as had 
been originally named. Dongan, also, under what were stated 
to be simple confirmations, extended the manors of Phillipse, 
Livingston, and Van Cortlandt. However, his wise public 
spirit and the general blamelessness of his administration have 
caused these violations of his instructions to be ascribed to 
carelessness or an undervaluation of their importance, so that 
to his successor. Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, belongs the repu- 
tation of being the first governor to exploit the crown lands 



3© Cadwallader Colden 

for his own benefit. He seemed, indeed, on the point of com- 
pleting the division of the province among his supporters when 
he was superseded by the Earl of Bellomont. The earl was a 
Leislerian, whereas his predecessor had led the opposing party, 
and it was his endeavour to bring everything to Fletcher's dis- 
credit to light. His description of the state of the crown lands 
and the crown surveyor's report resulted in a command from 
the home government that he use every means in his power to 
annul certain grants, and that in the future he demand 
a quit-rent of 2S. 6d. per hundred acres, exacting 
effectual cultivation within three years on pain of forfeiture. 
Accordingly, he induced the assembly to pass an act vacating 
the grants of Godfrey Dellius and others, of Colonel Peter 
Schuyler and Harme Gansevoort, of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, 
of Captain John Evans, and of Colonel Nicholas Bayard. This 
act, as was customary, he sent home for confirmation; but as 
months and years went by without a word in its regard, the 
assembly at length took matters into their own hands and 
repealed it. 

Meanwhile, Bellomont had died, and the lieutenant-governor, 
John Nanfan, was in command. Knowing that his period of 
power would probably be brief, he determined to improve it 
to the utmost and, among other concessions, promised away his 
master's lands with hearty good-will. But the steps necessary 
to secure his promises had hardly been begun when word came 
that Lord Combury was coming out as governor. He and 
Nanfan belonged to opposing parties, and a mad rush ensued 
to get the patents completed before his arrival. The loosest 
descriptions were made to answer, and the custom of using the 
Indian words for natural objects in naming the bounds was 
instituted. In this way the Indians innocently helped along 
many a fraud, as the grantees used their common names for 
tree, hill, river, as the proper names of a particular tree, hill, 



A Colonial Surveyor General 31 

river, the confusion being increased by the Indian habit of call- 
ing different parts of a river by different names. Even before 
this it had become usual to grant a tract by its Indian name 
with no further description, though, as the Indians were not 
surveyors, this meant nothing at all. And again, lands, which 
did boast bounds, were frequently described as bounded by a 
certain Indian's lands, whereas it was well known that the 
Indians were never landowners in their individual capacity. 
As might have been expected. Lord Combury used his privi- 
leges in proportion to his needs. It was believed that he opened 
negotiations with two gentlemen for a grant of the whole province, 
but they wisely decided that the resulting hostility would be 
unendurable. He, however, did his best without them. To one 
set of patentees he granted the Indian tract Wawayanda,^ in 
Orange County near the Jersey line, together with some unnamed 
parcels of land. Blanks were left for the figures, but it would 
have been natural to suppose that Wawayanda was the most valu- 
able and largest division of the patent, whereas the reverse was 
the case. To another group he granted the Great Minnisink 
patent, in Delaware County, the bounds of which were described 
as beginning at the Indian hunting-house, when there were prob- 
ably between two and three hundred such houses in the claim. 
The patent to Johannis Hardenburg and company, lying prin- 
cipally in Ulster County, started from the same indefinite hunt- 
ing-house ; while still another grant to some Albany Dutchmen 
was described as terminating one mile beyond where the fence 
stood. From this period, also, date the long-contested patents 
of Kayaderosseres, in the Mohawk Valley,^ Westemhook,' and 
Wagachemek.* Great as the confusion was, it was made stUl 

» N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 818, 839. 

^ This patent dated from November, 1708. See N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 851. 
^ On the Canadian line. 

* Waghaghkemick, in Orange County, granted to Thomas Swartwout and 
others in 1697. See N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 927. 



32 Cadwallader C olden 

greater toward the close of Combury's administration by the 
tardy action of the home government, for then word came that 
Bellomont's vacating act had been confirmed and its repeal dis- 
allowed. The matter at last had excited the attention it de- 
served, and by the instructions to Sir Francis Lovelace, in 1 708, 
the despoiled proprietors were to be allowed grants not exceed- 
ing two thousand acres for a quit-rent; three acres in every 
fifty were to be cultivated ; and the land was to be laid out by 
the governor or the commander-in-chief, the collector of customs, 
the secretary, and the surveyor general, or any three of them, 
the surveyor general always being one. These were to propor- 
tion good lands to bad, to lay out the patents at right angles to 
the waterways, and to reserve the woods for naval stores, all 
trees of a certain size being destined for the royal navy. 

During the administrations of Hunter and Schuyler, operations 
in land had been chiefly confined to the revision of the resumed 
patents, about one hundred and fifty thousand acres, for instance, 
of Evans's patent, lying in Orange and Ulster counties, having 
been petitioned for between May 14, 1700, and the date of Col- 
den's appointment. Schuyler, however, and Schuyler's deputies 
had paid so little attention to the instructions that Colden's de- 
termination to enforce their strict observance found public 
opinion entirely unprepared for such a course. Moreover, he 
was himself ignorant as to the exact functions of the council in 
the distribution, and under the circumstances he was unable to 
get exact information from the commission and instructions. 
The matter was also affected by the political situation, and he 
was strongly urged, on the one hand, to yield whenever consistent 
with his duty, and, on the other, to delay all grants to the op- 
position in order that the governor might be left with some 
weapons to force their compliance.^ 

Colden's first surveying experiences were in the partially 

^ Letter from Lewis Morris, July 23, 1720. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 33 

cleared, but still wild and primitive, counties of Orange and 
Ulster, where was situated, as has been said, the famous Evans's 
patent, of which Golden himself had obtained a grant of 3000 
acres, shortly after coming to New York. Of this patent he 
had before the close of the year laid out 18,960 acres, beside 
14,516 acres in the surrounding region/ He had also defined 
his position in three test cases: he had refused to obey an 
incorrect warrant of survey, in which refusal he had been 
upheld on the petition of the would-be patentee; he had me- 
morialized the council on another deficient warrant; and he 
had entered a caveat against the confirmation of 1260 acres 
to Joseph Budd, opposition member of assembly for West- 
chester County. 

In the autumn a new chief came out, Hunter having exchanged 
office with William Burnet, collector of customs at London. When 
Burnet was almost ruined by his connection with the South Sea 
madness, George I had happily remembered that his father, the 
witty Bishop of Salisbury, had first mentioned to William that 
the house of Hanover was the next Protestant family in the line 
of succession, and in consequence came to his rescue with one of 
the best appointments in America. Thus necessity first turned 
William Burnet's attention to the colony which he was to govern, 
but when once this had been done, his interest in it became as 
sincere and unselfish as though he had undertaken its adminis- 
tration from motives of public spirit alone. To Golden, in his 
first enthusiasm over the possibilities of his office, the new gov- 
ernor came as a welcome ally. He went at his work with renewed 
courage, and for the next seven years, in the wild forests and 
swamps of the Mohawk Valley, in the Shawangunk and Gatskill 
mountains, over the pasture and farms of Ulster and Orange, 
along the Gonnecticut border, on Westchester estates, and in 
the capital city and its vicinity, he did the colony a personal 

* Calender of N. Y. Col. Mss., Indorsed Land Papers. 
D 



34 Cadwallader Colden 

service of direct practical value. During this period almost 
the whole number of recorded surveys were made by Colden in 
person or at least in his presence, and no grants were issued 
without a proper certificate of a previous survey. His study 
of the records in connection with his work revealed many dis- 
crepancies in addition to those already mentioned. He found 
the Salisbury patentees claiming about seventy thousand acres 
in the Catskill region, at a rent of half a bushel of wheat, instead 
of the four hundred acres mentioned in their grant; those of 
Wawayanda, the acknowledged length of which was over fifty 
miles, encroaching on one of the resumed grants for nearly 
thirty ; those of Minnisink asserting their right to above twenty 
million acres by a patent demanding a quit-rent of ;i^3 a year. 
The last two grants touched on Evans's patent, Wagachemek 
and the province of New Jersey, and from the beginning to 
the middle of the century the conflicts of their patentees in- 
fluenced colonial politics despite Colden 's efforts to reduce 
matters to mathematical certainty. But this was diflicult 
when, for example, a patent was registered to a Scotchman 
and a German granting several tracts designated by Indian 
names, together with twelve thousand acres, "anywhere alto- 
gether within their limits," the number being overwritten six 
times. Patents like these were already hindering the settle- 
ment of the country Sometimes, indeed, small portions of 
them would be granted by the crown as though no previous 
grants had existed. But no sooner would the grantee take 
possession than his life would be made a burden by threats of 
suits, or actual suits, in courts influenced by the large proprietor. 
Sometimes even more violent attempts at eviction were made, 
and tales of such experiences spread, turning many to the neigh- 
bouring colonies rather than to risk their repetition. 

Many of these large tracts were held in common, and, some of 
the partners dying or disappearing from the province, acts 



A Colonial Surveyor General 35 

were passed from time to time to enable the living resident 
owners to divide them. Such an act was disallowed by the Lord 
Justices in 1719, but another was passed in July, 1721, despite 
the opposition of the new surveyor general. Burnet, however, 
vetoed it and sent it home with Colden's memorial. This con- 
tained besides the technical reasons for his disapproval a clear 
historical account of the crown lands, and offered certain con- 
clusions for consideration. It seemed evident, he said, that 
the lands if managed well would supply the revenue. He had 
calculated that the returns from eight patents, according to 
their present claims, would bring in annually, at the rate of 
25. 6d. an acre, ;i^4i76. They actually paid a total of only ;^i7 
1 75. 6d. Nevertheless, their present value being small, it would 
be impossible for their owners to hold them on such a basis, 
so he suggested that the assembly be induced to pass another 
act vacating the remaining exorbitant grants on the promise of 
consideration to the proprietors in case of their prompt obedi- 
ence and a threat of an act of Parliament if they refused it. If 
these suggestions were thought too sweeping, he proposed an 
act of Parliament empowering the crown surveyor to survey 
all grants and forcing the grantees to enter these in the proper 
office. 

This memorial so impressed the Board of Trade that they 
embodied it in a report to the king, and there the matter ended 
for a time. In the summer of 1724 another partition act was 
approved, but it was found unsatisfactory in its working, and 
two years later still another passed both houses. Colden, who 
had been admitted to the council in 1722, spoke against it at the 
first and second readings, but was not present when it passed. 
This was at the first meeting of the first assembly elected since 
that so favorable to Hunter had begun its sessions eleven years 
before. On the eve of the elections there had been an upheaval 
of public indignation on the subject of land monopoly. People 



36 Cadwallader Colden 

were actually being forced to send their children into other 
colonies because of the lack of free lands, when at the same 
time influential men were counting their acres by the hundred 
thousand and scarcely cultivating a hundred. The proprietors 
were really alarmed and hesitated to court a government in- 
quiry by going on with the work of division. But at the elections 
some of the greatest of these landowners were returned, and one 
of the first acts passed was this partition act under the strong 
suspicion that it was done at once to gain their favour and show 
them their dependence on the assembly. Colden, thoroughly 
aroused, wrote to the secretary of the Board of Trade, offer- 
ing a memorial against the act for the board's consideration.^ 
The experience of the last few years had given him a text from 
which he was to preach many times. The colonists were doing 
their best to free themselves from their officials; their next act 
might be to throw off king and Parliament, and there was but 
one remedy — independent salaries for the necessary administra- 
tors out of the quit-rents. To the act itself he objected be- 
cause of its repugnance to EngHsh law, its arbitrary methods, 
and its failure to provide for ascertaining the bounds, though 
he had himself offered to do so in most, if not in all, cases. 
Moreover, as it was said that after the division many of the 
grants were to be sold in small parcels, if the title of these 
was faulty, the loss would be the king's. For he would prefer 
this rather than to see the ruin of the small farmer who 
had purchased in good faith. Besides there was in reahty 
no need of a partition act at all, as writs of partition could con- 
fer all the requisite power. Again, the Board of Trade was 
roused to activity, and again, they made a representation to the 
king.^ Their conclusions, reached after due consideration and 
consultation with one of the crown lawyers, were Mr. Colden 's 
own. They suggested, however, a different remedy in the form 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 805-809. 2 N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 843, 844. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 37 

of an additional instruction. This provided that patentees must 
cultivate three acres in every hundred within three years of 
possession or forfeit their land. Still, had this instruction been 
carried out, it would have had the same effect as the exaction 
of full quit-rents, owing to the high rate of wages and the diffi- 
culty of getting labourers at any price. Meanwhile, the year 
had passed by, and Colden had received no official answer to his 
memorial. The agent, however, had written enough of the in- 
terest it had excited to alarm the proprietors, and Colden was 
made to feel their resentment. Once more he wrote to the secre- 
tary of the Board of Trade his political convictions deepened by 
personal bitterness. The assembly that had passed the act in 
question and the new one elected on the news of the king's death 
in the summer of 1727 had shown their hands without reserve. 
They were determined to have the finances and the judiciary com- 
pletely in their power, and they no longer cared who knew it. 
Colden eagerly assured the board that this was the true state of the 
case, even though apparent concessions might be made to the new 
governor to gain his favour. And evidently the longer this sort of 
thing was ignored, the harder it would be to stop it. So again he 
proposed to turn to land for the only remedy possible, a perma- 
nent salary fund. Unfortunately, grave as was his position, log- 
ical as were his suggestions, practicable as at this early date they 
may have been, their effect was spoiled by the personal allu- 
sions which he found irresistible. To be sure, this was a fault 
common to much of the correspondence of colonial officials in the 
eighteenth century, but it was not universal, and in the present 
case a bitter reference to a proprietor whom Colden considered 
his most prominent enemy formed so weak a climax to his 
argument that it must have greatly lessened its influence.^ 

By this time the first steps toward the final settlement of one 
of New York's contested boundaries had been taken. The 

' George Clarke. 



58 Cadwallader Colden 

Dutch had settled on the Hudson and Connecticut years before 
the Puritan migration to the valley of the last-named river, and 
to all the country between the two they laid claim. This prob- 
ably prompted the use of the Connecticut River as New York's 
eastern boundary in the Duke of York's patent, but at the time 
of Nicolls's conquest the colony of Connecticut had encroached 
to within ten miles of the Hudson. This gave her an equitable 
claim to that territory, which Nicolls was quick to acknowledge, 
for Dutch were many and EngHsh few in his possessions, and 
it was prudent to keep on good terms with his neighbours. In 
fact, in the bounds that he and his council arranged with the 
representatives of Connecticut the line crossed the Hudson 
about thirty miles from its mouth. But New York could not 
regard such an arrangement seriously, and in 1683 a second 
agreement was concluded.^ By this the Hne was to begin at 
the mouth of the Byram River, follow the stream to its ford, 
and then extend north-northwest into the country for eight miles. 
Going back to the mouth of the Byram, the Sound was to be 
followed twelve miles to the eastward, whence another north- 
northwest line was to be run for eight miles, and the quadri- 
lateral was to be completed by another twelve-mile Hne parallel 
to the general course of the Sound. From the northeast ex- 
tremity of this quadrilateral, a Hne was to be drawn to the 
Massachusetts border, paraUel to, and twenty miles distant 
from, the Hudson. East from this Hne as much was to be 
added to New York as had been taken from it by the quadri- 
lateral. Some of the Hnes were actually run, the report of 
the surveyors was confirmed by the two governments at Milford 
in 1684, and the general agreement by King WilHam in 1700. 
But Connecticut felt that overmuch had been wrung from her 

^ Colden's Remarks on the Connecticut Boundary, The Colden Letter 
Books, I, 301, 302; James Alexander to Colden, November 22, 1731. Colden 
to Major Woolcot, March 6, 1732. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 39 

at a time when, owing to the threatened withdrawal of her 
charter, she dared not but comply, and as soon as her fears were 
removed she disputed the jurisdiction of several towns within 
the territory conceded to New York. The consequent disturb- 
ances produced an act which Hunter signed just before he left, 
authorizing commissioners to complete and confirm the survey. 
Connecticut, fearing an ex parte Hne, pretended to follow this 
lead, but by an absurd subterfuge her commissioners were em- 
powered to "perambulate" the lines instead of to run them, 
while her agent opposed, though unsuccessfully, the king's ap- 
probation of the New York act. New York remonstrating, her 
General Court passed an act censuring New York and con- 
tradicting the agreement of 1683. But she could hold out no 
longer, and after a preUminary skirmish the preceding year at 
New Rochelle, surveyors and commissioners from both colonies 
met at Greenwich in the spring of 1725. Those representing 
New York were Isaac Hicks, Francis Harrison, and Cadwallader 
Colden. Several other meetings were held at different points 
in the neighbourhood, but it soon became evident that the Con- 
necticut men were designedly blocking proceedings, and Colden 
and his associates notified them that they were going to run the 
line ex parte. Before separating, however, they all met for a 
social hour, when Colden, knowing that an ex parte line would 
leave everything as unsettled as before, took one of the Con- 
necticut men aside and asked him to say frankly what was the 
matter. He replied without hesitation that it was their con- 
cern for the people of Ridgefield. This township was situated 
in the strip to be conceded to New York, and its thrifty and 
prosperous inhabitants objected to becoming tenants of that 
government and buying their own improvements. Mr. Colden 
laid the matter before his fellow- commissioners, and negotia- 
tions were resumed, resulting in a survey and report by which all 
property rights in the township were to be recognized, though 



40 Cadwallader Colden 

proprietors were to be considered as tenants of New York and 
not of Connecticut. The New York council approved this re- 
port on May 20, 1725, but as the appropriation for the purpose 
had been exhausted by the delay, the running of the line was 
of necessity deferred. 

Meanwhile, Colden and Burnet had been suffering the con- 
sequences of over-enthusiasm for reform, and when Burnet 
was finally superseded by Colonel Montgomerie, Colden found 
it wiser to retire for a time from poHtics and other town dissi- 
pations. Nor did Montgomerie become sufficiently interested 
in land during his short administration to make Colden at all 
necessary, and it was not until Montgomerie 's death brought 
over Colonel WilHam Cosby as governor that the surveyor gen- 
eral's office again became popular. Before that Colden had 
assisted in the final adjustment of the Connecticut boundary. 
Its survey at the cost of the government seeming as far off as 
ever, some Ridgefield farmers had proposed to several New 
York gentlemen that they run the line at their own expense, 
receiving as compensation the patent of the land that New 
York was to receive as an equivalent for her claim on and near 
the Sound. Among the New York men concerned were James 
Alexander, WiUiam Smith, and George Clarke, Clarke agree- 
ing to the proposition only on condition of Colden 's approval. 
This the surveyor general cordially gave, as well as a promise 
to supervise the survey, in return for which be became a share- 
holder in lieu of fees. The work went rapidly on to comple- 
tion and the patent had passed the seal, when, in July, 1731, 
word came that a patent for the same lands, known as "the 
equivalent," or "oblong," and consisting of 61,441 acres, had 
been granted by the king to the Duke of Chandos and several 
other Englishmen with Francis Harison, member of assembly 
for New York. Mr. Harison, who was the city recorder, had 
been a friend of Burnet's, who had promised him a generous 



A Colonial Surveyor General 41 

share of the oblong. But before the plans for its division were 
consummated, he had gone over to the opposition, and it was only 
through Burnet's good nature that he received even a diminished 
portion. Still he was dissatisfied, and this was his revenge. A 
remonstrance was despatched to England, and in reply the paten- 
tees there offered two thousand acres to the American partners 
as a quit-claim. Meanwhile, Alexander and Smith had been col- 
lecting documents, including copies or originals, of all the steps 
taken in regard to the Connecticut boundary, and Colden had 
summed up the situation in a letter to one of the English paten- 
tees on which as evidence the English offer was unanimously 
refused. The best legal advice in England was retained, adver- 
tisements were put in the London newspapers, copies of the docu- 
ments were distributed to the EngUsh patentees, and Colden was 
asked to draw up a memorial to the king and to make a sketch 
of a like memorial to be sent by the General Court of Connecticut, 
begging him to obtain the patentees' release or to void their 
patent by scire facias or otherwise. But Colden was dissatis- 
fied with everything that had been done, and for some occult 
reason chose to consider the request that he sum up the case 
mere "banter." Indeed, it was only after some months and 
much urging that he consented to do his part. The final agree- 
ment had also been delayed by the demands of some of the 
smaller holders, and Harison hastened to take advantage of 
their contentions by attempting prior settlement under the 
English patent. He was, however, unsuccessful, owing to the 
prompt action of Alexander and Smith, and at length, on 
the i8th of May, 1732, the articles of agreement were indented, 
and the next week Colden received the warrants for the indi- 
vidual shares.^ 

About this time Cosby, who had only kissed hands for New 
York and New Jersey the preceding January, arrived in town 
* Alexander to Colden, November 20, 1731, and December 23, 1731. 



42 Cadwallader Colden 

and immediately affairs political took on a lively tinge. For 
Cosby began by claiming more salary than the late acting 
governor thought his due, and in the ensuing Utigation every 
man of prominence in the colony became to some extent in- 
volved. For his part Colden sincerely desired to hold aloof, 
but his most intimate associates, James Alexander and Levi^is 
Morris, soon became Cosby's dearest foes, and though the 
governor had fleeting intentions of getting on a more confidential 
basis with the surveyor general, the latter's loyalty to his friends 
rankled and in the end prevented any real harmony with his 
chief. Cosby, however, had plenty of supporters, Clarke, Ken- 
nedy, Delancey, and in fact almost the whole council vigorously 
championing him against his predecessor, Rip Van Dam. 
Another strong ally was Horsmanden, to whom he had taken 
a quick fancy, and if this proved rather intermittent, it was 
exploited to good effect while active. Indeed, the fact that the 
governor had made the debt- ridden young lawyer a member of 
the council was one of the charges against him. At the same 
time Horsmanden in some way maintained the pleasant rela- 
tions with Colden, begun when he had arrived in the country, 
supplied with introductions to the surveyor general and others 
and little else beside. For purposes of his own, he managed 
to keep in close touch with Coldengham, and his letters on mat- 
ters of territorial and poUtical import are illuminating. 

" The Assembly are to sit according to Adjournm*, the 
third Tuesday of this Month," he wrote Colden in April, 1733, 
"[and] I presume you will have notice but I hope you will be 
here punctually at that time for many reasons & among the 
rest because I have heard some Exceptions taken to members 
of the Council living at a great Distance out of Towne & w*^ 
what view I could not but guess." Such solicitude, however, was 
unusual, and Horsmanden generally wrote only to ask a favour. 
"I mentioned the Kingston affair to the Governor," he wrote 



A Colonial Surveyor General 43 

the next January, "and told him that you were so kind as to 
give me a share. All the answer I could get was that things 
must come on in turn. He says he is determined to take money 
in lieu of dirt in future and I fear Mr. Clarke has such a hold 
on him that he will grant nothing without his having a 
share." 

This "Kingston affair" was a tract of land in the vicinity of 
that town which Golden had pointed out as Ukely to make the 
snug patent that Horsmanden desired. "I wish that you 
lived at a day's journey," the latter wrote later in the week,^ 
"I just now press 'd the Affair of Kingston to the Gov^ as far 
as I could in Decency, & insinuated a temptation to him to 
dispatch that affair, by suggesting that they might perhaps 
have something further to discover, when this was finished, 
and that he might probably have ready money for the share 
he demands; but all without effect. For he says, he cannot 
think of it 'til the Spring & he intends then to be up there him- 
self, what he means by this he but knows. He tells me that 
for the future he intends to take money instead of lands : whether 
anything can be done with him in such matters I am not able 
to say: but he has often promised both Gapt Long and 
myself such a good Lump of Land at once & if 6 or 8 thousand 
acres can be discovered worth asking for, we are determined to 
push it at once ; Gapt° Long, I am Sure, he is exceedingly 
obliged to, & I think he is indebted something to me for my 
Services. The quantity & manner of disposing we leave to 
your discretion. . . . Mathews has a whole pacquet of news 
to joke with you upon." Golden again acted the friendly part, 
and still later in the same month Horsmanden thus naively 
acknowledged his good offices: "You have very much obhged 
me by the favour of yours of the 17*^ Inst* wch I received last 
night & was determined to lose no time in acknowledging of 

1 January 8, 1733/4. 



44 Cadwallader Colden 

them. Whatever Danger may be Apprehended from the Cor- 
respondence (tho' at present I am not aware of much prejudice) 
yet be the Consequence what it may I am determined in- 
violably to maintain & improve on my part the ffriendship 
commenced between us wch proceeds from my Real good 
Opinion & Sincere IncUnations towards you more than Self 
Interest. Tho really I have Uv'd long enough in the World to 
judge from the frailty & necessity of human Nature : That no 
ffriendships are so strongly cemented as those carry'd on by 
mutual Ints & Services. Your profession with respect to my 
Friend the Captn & myself, we both think ourselves exceedingly 
obliged to you for, & pticr^^ as to the Land you recommend 
wch lys Intervening between the 20 m pattes & the Oblong, 
We must beg some further acct of it, what Quantity you may 
guess it contains, whether there is not a very fine Swamp in it 
or piece of Water wch may turne to very good acct by draining," 
etc. "You sit stil by your Country fire," he added later, 
"enjoying yourself & FFamily wth the utmost peace & Satis- 
faction, while we are in the midst of pty flames & where things 
will End I'm not prophet enough to foretell." 

But if Colden was otherwise easy, Horsmanden was deter- 
mined to keep him active in his service. By the end of March 
he had another scheme in view. "Yours dated from Albany 
I reed the 11*'' Inst*. But not time enough to prevent the 
request of Captn Long & myself of the Gov' concerning the 
3000 [acres] recommended by Mathews wch was made 2 days 
before, but with what Success it will End, I cannot yet posi- 
tively Determine. I wish I had reed yrs time enough I wo*^ 
have punctually observ'd yr Directions, but The Capt" & my- 
self were resolv'd to make our utmost Efforts in the Request 
of so smal a pittance. We determined to ask for 3000 * as for 
Ourselves, ffor wch Reason we feigned as if The Countryman 
had offered to discover The land upon our Obtaining a Warrant 



A Colonial Surveyor General 45 

of Survey & Lodging 20 pistoles in a third person's hands to 
be paid him upon Our Approbation of the Land: & in this 
manner I first opened the m" [matter] to his Wossp [Worship] : 
I told that the Quantity was too large for me to ask for myself 
agreable to his Instructions & therefore I chose to take Captn 
Long in a partner whom I under stood he had made a promise of 
Land to as well as myself, he sd there was nothing in that 
he wod have granted it to me But he must have his 3'''^ & he 
wod pay 7 Pistoles for his Share & 6 more for me & Captn 
Long the rest. This was with an air of generosity to me but 
Captn Long was to pay more than a proportion: Now you 
must know we did not think it wod be any crime considering 
whom we were dealing with to put it on this footing but per- 
haps you will say we were out in our Polliticks & indeed I 
wish we had not taken that method, ffor afterwds we found 
ourselves under a necessity of telling the Truth of the case 
That now the Countryman insisted on an equal Share with the 
Captn & myself & I told him since this was the case I did not 
think twas worth while to meddle with it : But Captn Long 
attacqued him after"^*^* & askt The Grant of the whole to us 
two as we were to give a Declaration of Trust to The Country- 
man for 1000 acres which he readily promised him wch as was 
imagined he could not with any sort of Grace refuse him, tho' 
he certainly would to me: After this passed with the Captn I 
saw him again & he seemed to be somewhat netld & askt me 
who this Countryman was ffor he sd I might tell him as the 
Countryman had broke his word with me, but I answered 
him, as I shod have said I told him before that I had En- 
gaged my word & Honour not to discover him & I was 
psuaded That if I gave his Ex'''' one Instance That I was capa- 
ble of forfeiting so Solemn an Engagemt etc. I must give him a 
very bad Opinion of me & That he might expect I might Do it 
thereafter to himself. Therefore beg'd to be Excus'd whereupon 



46 Cadwallader Colden 

he went off in a huff & sd twas a Trick to cheat him of 
his 3''''* & has lookt coolly upon me Since but I intend to desire 
his Explanation as the Declaration was general as to the pson 
he suspects of it & to battle it out with him. The Capt has 
just been with me & as the Gov' sd to me that there was an 
end of it, he intends to insist upon his word with him & I beheve 
considering all Circumstances w"' Respect to past favours or 
rather more for what they have further to ask, he'll not run the 
Risque of fforfeiting his ffriendship with the additional Reproach 
of breaking his word. I have since I wrote to you last men- 
tioned The Aff' of Kingston at Esopus abot ye 8000 * but I am 
from his Conduct in that m''® [matter] induced to think that he 
intends to lay his claim upon the whole for himself, ffor in the 
case of his 3'^'^* as above he told me that the profitts of his 
Government were so inconsiderable that he was Obliged to 
make the most of everything, & yt twas customary for Govrs 
to take their 3'''^® of all Grants But it is nevertheless my humble 
Opinion That every pson upon his petitioning the Govr & 
Council has a Right to have that pet" heard & I beheve wo"* 
be thought at home to have a Right to have the Land discovered 
Granted to him. I'm sure that is the Opinion of Govr & 
Council in other Colonys. I know it is so in Virginia & I 
believe if such a practice as taking 3"^* was to be laid open . . . 
it wo** be thought somewhat Criminal. The Captn is now 
returned & informs me that the Gov"^ ffathers the contrivance 
upon me & he knows the Land & tis very valuable, tis in 
Westchester & upon the River & 'tis for the Morisania family 
& that I don't use him well in not discovering the Author & 
that there is an end of the Affair: that he'll do nothing in it: 
so that you may judge how m'^* [matters] are hke to go betwixt 
us: you are proved a true Prophet." 

By August this indefatigable schemer had still another plan. 
" But I must inform you first of all," he wrote Colden on the 27th 



A Colonial Surveyor General 47 

of the month, " that the report Coll Morris told you of concerning 
my writing to Mr. Perry that he was dead & applying for his place 
upon that suggestion has given Captn Norris [who had married 
Miss Morris] such a spleen against me that nothing less than 
my destruction could, I suppose, satisfy his Resentm' so that 
he procured (not without some Industry I have reason to think) 
a power of Attorney from Some Creditor of mine, to sue me 
here & this was reported in Town immediately on his arrival 
with the addition of all the Opprobrious Language BilHngs- 
gate could furnish tho' upon Enquiry this ffact is denyed, & tis 
said only that he had it offered but refused the Office. I pre- 
sume if he had it, the Morrisania family have advised him 
not to own it: But for an Instance to show that Providence 
brings good out of Evil, the Gov' has upon this occasion shown 
the handsomest kind of Resentmt upon his Returne from the 
plams by Assuring me that my Enemys shall not have their 
Ends. That he will do everything in his power to make me 
safe, & has promised me that as soon as his pattents are 
passed for the Governor's Lands I shall have 2000 acres of 
them conveyed to me without any expense & any other Lands 
I could get IntelHgence of that wod answer my purpose . . . 
& then told me Mr Clarke had mentioned this 6000 acres 
& ordered me forthwith to prepare the Petition for the 
Indian purchase & he would have a Council m a day or two 
& it should be done. He also promised me the Recordership 
when Harison lays it down. In short his Behaviour upon this 
occasion has been exceeding kind & handsome, & the Lycence 
I have got accordmgly wch I enclose yo. If you can do me 
any service upon the warrant you have already or in Recom- 
mending any other Piece of Land wch may be of service to 
yourself as well as to me, now is the time to Strike while the 
Iron is hot, pray let me know by the first opportunity whether 
you shall be from home any time next month for I shall 



48 Cadwallader Colden 

be tempted (I believe) to take a 2nd Race over your high 
Lands." 

Naturally, Horsmanden's success in obtaining honours and 
acquisitions denied to many a better man brought him enemies, 
who made the most of his reputation for a rather shady im- 
pecuniousness. This, unfortunately, only incited Cosby to an 
even greater generosity, and Horsmanden wrote complacently 
in November, 1734: "This Scandalous & Villainous Treatm' 
has made the Gov^ Sensible that I have not been the pson he 
suspected me to be from those good Offices I have endeavoured 
to do to those who are become my profess'd Enimys & has 
therefore engaged himself to pay a consi'''^ part of the Debt 
& has in the most Solemn manner assured my ff''^ whom I 
prevailed with to solHcit this matter with him That whatever 
Lands I can get Intelligence of wch may be for my purposes 
& likely to sell & raise money upon he will Grant then to me 
if 'tis 6, 8, or io,ooo;^. Yourself & Mr. Mathews are the only 
ff'^* wch I can hope for any service of this kind from. I am 
sensible that whatever you may be able to Communicate in 
psuance of this Request may probably be what he & you might 
most reasonably have designed to have found some Account in 
yourselves." 

And for some undiscoverable reason Colden did thus serve 
this incorrigible beggar, and continued to respond to his over- 
tures even when Horsmanden had become the American at- 
torney of the EngHsh patentees of the oblong who had by no 
means given up the fight. "You pretty well know my senti- 
ments as to ye equivalent that the L*^* are not worth my 
Clyents StrugUng for: But if they differ in Opinion & psist, 
I do think your grant must be destroyed & might & probably 
would be defeated if the EngHsh grant was out of the question 
& tho' (as some use the phrase) I am paid for thinking, I think 
I must declare so if I were not : I shall ever Remember your 



A Colonial Surveyor General 49 

kind proposall at Our parting with respect to the 6000 *[ cres] 
Collins has the Survey for. But in my present Anguish of 
mind I did in the morning entreat your further kind Assist- 
ance which may in strictness be thought bearing too hard upon 
your good Nature : But if you Should think so I yet flatter my- 
self from your ffdship & Candour you will excuse it from the 
urgency of my afifairs at this Juncture . . . there is little (or I 
may say no) Hopes for Old Morris's being Restored Therefore 
nothing remains for him but to doe what Little Mischief more 
remains in his power." 

Long before this Colden's own affairs had approached a 
crisis. Despite an undoubted willingness to take the oppor- 
tunities Providence was throwing in his way, there is every 
reason to suppose that he had tried to do his duty as he under- 
stood it, and one of his first communications to Cosby had been 
a memorial on the province lands containing much old material 
but reaching certain conclusions that were new to his temper.* 
Starting with the rather unusual conviction that change and 
destruction is wont to spring from the landed class, he proceeded 
to evolve some decidedly conservative remedies. It was in- 
evitable, he confessed, that any attempt of a government to 
curtail the property of its subjects would be looked at jealously 
anywhere, but especially so in America, where few grants were 
flawless and where the sympathies of the small and honest 
proprietor were with the unscrupulous monopolist who, natu- 
rally, could be trusted to make the most of this tendency. To 
prevent this, an absolute confirmation of all grants, save such 
as were "truly extravagant," might be of service, but the diffi- 
culty here would be successfully to avoid making the necessary 
exceptions either too general or too particular. He therefore 
suggested the abolition of all existing rents by act of Parliament 
and the offer of the confirmation of all grants on a promise to 

* New York Documentary History, I, 247. 



50 Cadwallader Colden 

pay annually 2S. 6d. a hundred acres. In this way the quit- 
rents would be restored and the exorbitant grants destroyed, 
for no one could keep them intact at such a price. It would 
be impossible to find a more equitable method of taxation, the 
merchants would be relieved, and the only persons dissatisfied 
would be the big landholders. In this way, also, the quit- 
rents, which he proceeded to estimate, and which at the time 
barely paid the recorder and auditor, could be made to cover 
the whole establishment, "and that Gentlemans place would be 
thought to be ill managed, when it only paid his Steward and 
his Clerk." Yet there was a diSiculty here too. The people 
would reaUze that such a method would remove all salutary 
check on their officials, and Colden seemed to think that their 
consequent opposition would be well timed. He was, however, 
vaguely optimistic as to the probable discovery of satisfactory 
compensations. Unfortunately, this fair-mindedness went for 
nothing, and the manuscript of the memorial bears the following 
note in Colden's handwriting and dated May, 1752: "It is 
now twenty years since I delivered the above Memorial to 
Colonel Cosby soon after his arrival. I question whether ever 
he read it. I have reason to think he gave it to the person in 
whom he then confided who had no inclination to forward the 
purposes of it. It had no other effect than to be prejudicial to 
myself. 

"The computations of what the lands would have at that time 
produced at 2s 6d per hundred acres I believe were made 
within bounds. The settlements are greatly increased since 
that time more than in fifty years before it so that I make no 
doubt they will produce 6ooo;^ a year, taking in a reasonable 
Quitrent for the house lots in the Cities of New York and 
Albany. 

" I forgot to mention that it appears from the Records that 
numbers of house lots were granted under the yearly Quit- 



A Colonial Surveyor General 51 

Rents of one shilling, two shillings &c or some such small 
rent which I believe is now never paid." 

Instead of considering the interests of the province as well 
as his own, Cosby was devoting his attentions to the latter 
exclusively, and not only demanded, as we have seen, a third of 
every patent granted, but petitioned quite constantly for grants 
for himself. When it is learned that well within two years of 
his arrival patents passed for 15,000, 27,000, 86,000, 15,000 
again, 12,000, 25,000, 18,000, and 22,000 acres respectively, with 
many others for tracts varying from 2000 to 8000 acres, and 
when it is learned also that during that time he had asked for 
himself outright 48,000 acres, it will be seen that he had a large 
ambition. But he was dissatisfied. He felt that the surveyor 
general did not meet him halfway, and possibly, also, he was 
irritated to see a man whose whole attitude was superior, and 
who refused absolutely to scheme with him, adding steadily to 
his own possessions. "As to my part, I cannot value myself 
upon any great share in the Governours friendship," Golden 
had written his aunt, Mrs. Hill, in January, 1734, "but it is 
said to be some comfort to have many under the same misfor- 
tune. However the distance I am at from New York frees me 
from a good deal of uneasiness that could not be avoided were 
I there at this time. My endeavour shall be to maintain a 
Character of an honest man & while I do that I hope never 
to forfeit your esteem & love. ... I have taken all the meas- 
ures which I think prudent to guard against any attempts that 
may be made & I hope they will be successfuU but they will 
create me some Expense." 

These precautions, however, came very near being unavailing. 
In October Golden, who had just finished a survey of twenty- 
eight thousand acres for the governor, heard from Horsmanden 
as follows : " Our ffriend Mathews yesterday Surprized me with 
an Acco* That on Saturday Evening last You were Suspended 



52 Cadwallader C olden 

from your Office of Surve/ Gen- If it be true, 'twas done in 
Such privacy that I knew not one Syllable of it. It could 
hardly be done in Council flfor I believe there were not at that 
time a Suff^ number in Towne with me, & there was no Council 
in the Evening that I heard of & I'm Sure 'twas not done in 
the morning ffor we all broke up & went away together: If 
this be true, (& I have long found that all the Secrets trans- 
acted there soon come to Light) you no doubt will Determine 
to goe home the first Opportunity in order to Doe yourself 
Justice & now two or 3 Ships are going. 

" A Particular fifriend of yours has ever since you went been 
most Importunate w*? me for the Dr- of the Bill in Chancery, 
his Scheme opens to me plainer every Day; ... I asked him, 
between him & myself, how he came to come into it if 'twas 
such as he seems now so grossly to explode, he s"? he beheved 
he was bewitcht: 'tis a most ungrateful task to me to have it 
fall within the Duty of my Profession that I am obhged soon 
in a Bill of Equity to charge my ffriend whom I am persuaded 
of being a man of Sense & Honour with Epithets that are 
odious to him & myself. But you know they are words of 
Course in such Cases, & you are in very Good Company, M" 
Clarke Kennedy A. V. Home Vincent Mathews Alexander & 
Smith &c who will have a Share with you: 

" But if this matter be true, That you are actually Suspended ; 
I am aware of anor Drift of your Adversarys in pressing & 
hastening this Bill so much w*^^ if the Design be as I Surmise 
will be in Effect Tying up your hands to cut your throat i.e.) 
If the Bill Sho**. be filed time enough, & you sho"^ be preparing 
for England To endeavour to Stop you by a Ne exeat, for w''.'' 
Reason I do assure you I will stay my hand as long as possible, 
& if there is any Danger in that, you shall not fail of knowing 
it ; & 'tis but keeping over at Hoebuck whilst your Son by your 
Directions prepares your things here & so to go on Board from 



A Colonial Surveyor General 53 

thence : This, nothing less than the Sacred Tyes of ffriendship 
& the Value I have for you & the Confidence & Trust I im- 
pose in you could have prevailed on me to Communicate . . . 
& you may be assured: That whatever I can imagine hear or 
think of w*^^ may be for your Service to knowe consistent with 
my honour & Conscience to impart, you Shall have from me." 

As it happened Cosby had not come to the point of suspend- 
ing the surveyor general. He must have known that his con- 
duct since arriving in New York was receiving stiff criticism 
everywhere in England, and perhaps he thought he would try, 
even thus late, to follow some of the good advice he had been 
given. " Upon Account of my Friendship for him [Cosby] ," the 
secretary of the Board of Trade was about this time writing 
to Colden, " when he went to New York, I desired of all things 
that He would create an intimate Friendship with you, because 
I knew he had much to expect from the Friendship of a Man, 
with your Knowledge of the Nature of the Government, and of 
the Temper, and different IncHnations of the People he was to 
govern. As I judg'd this, to be the most effectual Way to 
prevent Complaints, I wish he had follow'd my Advice, because 
I am well assur'd you would have led him into no Scrape. 

"A Governor has at first, a pretty difficult Lesson to learn, and 
if he falls into right Hands, he may certainly pave the Way for 
a peaceable, & an agreable Way of making his Fortune ; But 
otherwise, he opens the Door to Complaints, & it may be, some 
cannot be easily wiped off." Still Cosby had gone so far as to 
make out an indictment of this desirable friend, the article thereof 
with which we are chiefly concerned accusing him of taking 
fees for the survey of land grants. But as his office was of 
the greatest importance to the government, and was at the same 
time unsalaried, it was understood that the compensation with- 
out which no man could have been expected to perform its 
duties was to be in just this form, and Morris, to whom Colden 



54 Cadwallader Golden 

left his defence, would have found it easy to sustain this point. 
The fact was, he said, that the governor found the surveyor 
general too honest. Nevertheless, it is somewhat difficult to 
see how Golden reconciled these fairly exorbitant grants to 
himself. To be sure, he was not the only one concerned, and it 
might have been fooHsh for him to refuse his own emolument 
and the aggrandizement of his family when the whole council 
was consenting thereto. It is true also that the grants were 
often, and perhaps always, made to several parties in the name 
of one, but this was after all rather an objection than a justifica- 
tion, on account of the great difficulties already experienced with 
lands held in common. He could, however, honestly say that 
he had paid strict regard to the crown's rights by exact surveys 
and accurate registration, and to the Indians by insisting on 
treating them with the most punctiHous honour at a time when 
their spoUation was considered the white man's right. Nor 
did he forget the humble settler, and in October, 1734, induced 
the governor and Secretary Clark to offer one hundred thousand 
acres to the first Protestant European families to arrive in the 
province, at the rate of a hundred acres to a family, free from 
all charges but the expense of the survey. 

"A certain worthy good ffriend of y"," Horsmanden in- 
formed him later in the month, "in conjunction w*? ye Seer?" 
has proposed a Scheme for Granting away all Remaining 
vacant Lands in Evans Grant & in order to make it goe down 
the better some of the Council were offer'd to be Lett in for 
2000 ? apiece, and tho' I am not well pleased to see it • 
going in this manner Yet I could, (as I otherwise wo?) have 
Refused for Several Reasons. The Gov^ seeming pleased with 
the thing is one & others you may easily guess at. . . . But 
a pet" has been presented & granted & Warr* of Survey ready 
to Sign & Directed to yrself w'^^ was more than I expected. 
But I am in hopes the Report concerning you is Groundless. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 55 

The Bill in Chancery I shall keep in my hands as long as pos- 
sible tho' I'm teased to Death abo* it." 

This bill the American partners had been subpoenaed to 
answer in April ; and Golden in Ulster, without any law books, 
and Alexander and Smith in New York, with all the province 
afforded, were drawing up exceptions to that very court in 
which Golden had once been master and which he had often 
warmly championed. "As to the Oblong Bill, my Dr* was 
finished before X*mas;" wrote Horsmanden early in 1735,* 
"but Machiavall & I disagreed abo* many particulars in it 
wherefore when 'twas got from me, it was thought proper to 
be altered & new molded accd to his own Scheme, in such 
manner that it was not thought proper to Trust me with a sight 
of it, for fear I sho? have Reasons to produce Suff* to Convince 
others concerned, that mine was rt & his was wrong, where- 
fore according to his usual method of proceedings recourse 
must be had to an Indirect way of compassing his Ends, by 
procuring a meeting of all Lawy'.' concerned & so to have a 
Gursory Reading of the Dr* & thrust it down their throats, & 
extort an approbation, & it happened very well for him & me ; 
th* I could not be present at the meeting, w"^ Spared me Some 
Trouble, as well as the Necessity of Showing Some Resentm* 
from such ill Treatm* ffor in a Regular way of Business most 
certainly the Dr^ Sho^ have been Returned to me, with Reasons 
in Support of the Alterations, & Information by whom such 
Alterations were made, & in point of Good manners my Dr* 
Sho? not have been altered, but proposalls have been upon 
Separate paper with References to such places offered to be 
altered. This is not Ceremony in me, but the Regular method 
of doing Business; however it is engross'd & fyled, without my 
Seeing it." As it happened, Horsmanden's preparations, as 
well as those of his opponents, went for nothing. Cosby flatly 

* April 2. 



56 Cadwallader Colden 

refused to consider the exceptions and, emphasizing the fact 
that they were actually presented by members of a committee 
of council who had handed in a report upholding Chancery 
only eight years before, pertinently asked what sort of advice 
he was to expect from them. He then ordered the defendants 
to appear once again with another defence, for which order he 
shortly received the warm approbation of the Board of Trade. 
Its secretary, however, was greatly disgusted. "I have receiv'd 
yours, of the 12*'' of June last, in relation to the difficulty which 
has lately subsisted between Col: Cosby & you," he informed 
Colden, "in answer to one that I had wrote to you, as I like- 
wise had done to him, and at the same time upon that Subject. 
By what you have wrote, I cannot forbear remarking that Col : 
Cosby, has had so much regard, for what I had recommended 
to him, as to take the first Step, towards renewing a Friendship 
with you, and I am incUned to believe, that my Endeavours for 
a reunion, between you two might have succeeded, had you not 
opposed his measures, particularly with regard to the holding a 
Court of Chancery at New York. 

" Upon this Occasion I cannot help being Surprized that you 
who was so Strenuous for it should now oppose the holding 
that Court. However different you may be in Opinion, from 
what you then were of. Col : Cosby will certainly stand justifyed, 
In having pursued the directions of his Commissions and Instruc- 
tions in this respect ; This Court was established at New York, 
in the very infancy of that Colony by the Crowns undoubted 
Right signifyed to the then Governor under the Broad Seal of 
this Kingdom: Successively confirmed under the Broad Seal 
in every Governors Commission that has been appointed since, 
and which must therefore consequently be deemed an essential 
part of the Constitution of that Province. And if the Assembly, 
will but consider that they set only by the same authority, that 
Supports the Court of Chancery : . . . surely they would not 



A Colonial Surveyor General 57 

have ventured, to oppose the one since at the same time they 
effectually strike at the Foundation of the Other. 

" I have in this manner endeavour 'd to set the Affair of the 
Court of Chancery in its true Ught : and if I am happy enough 
to have said anything that may be convincing, I am the rather 
pleased because as your difference with Col: Cosby, relates 
chiefly to his EstabUshing that Court, this may tend to the 
renewing of your Friendship, To which good end, I hope slight 
punctilios will never be a hindrance." The secretary's sug- 
gestions came too late. When they arrived in America Cosby 
had been overtaken by his last illness and had put the finishing 
touchtothecontroversiesof his administration by suspending his 
natural successor, Rip Van Dam. "How unhappy a Circum- 
stance it would be, if at this Juncture it should please God to 
take him from us ! " sneered Horsmanden, " Jerry, The Agent 
has had 300;;^ sterhng Bills protested So that the Oblong aff^ 
seems at present to be in Suspense. No Soul here has heard 
a word from F. Harison (as 'tis said) not so much as his wife 
or ffamily: . . . Don't be Surpriz'd if the next news is that 
he 's turned Monk in a Monastery abroad for the Sake of Good 
Living. ... G: Clerk prays heartily & hopes in God the 
Govf will do well." And again: "The Govf still continues in 
a dangerous & ahnost desperate condition ... he has re- 
turns of Coughfing fits, . . . and his fitts of this kind often 
throw him into Diliriums, in w*^ it is said he has sometimes 
talkt most Sensibly, w*=?, tho' a Seeming paradox, is capable 
of Explanation for being a Contradiction : ffor it is whisper 'd 
that he upbraided Madams Conduct in Such Lively Colours 
that She fell into a Swoon : In Short, I saw her a few days ago, 
& she seems to give so much Credit to Dr. Standbuffs (the 
most discouraging of the three Doctors attending the governor) 
opinion that she talkt in a manner dispairing of his Recovery. 
I find the new president pays great deference to the last 



58 Cadwallader Colden 

mentioned D" Judgm* & is not unwilling to believe him 
prophetical. 

"As to the pacquet, it has been sometime since open'd, & 
brought forth a letter from the Board of Trade, It was Suppos'd, 
The Governess had peep'd into it, long before She own'd it to 
have been opened before The Gov^ ; ffor it was sometime before 
reported from her (as Suppos'd) That V. Dam & Alexander 
were out of the Council, & that The Mandamus for swearing 
in Moor & Richard were in the pacquet. But the Burthen 
of the pacquet appear 'd to be a Letter from three If^ of Trade 
Intimating That they had Recommended the above to be Dis- 
placed from the Council & the others in their Room, This the 
Novices in polHticks took to be The unum necessarium, w*"? 
they were afterwds undeceiv'd in, however this was shown about 
to a great many & amongst the rest I happen 'd of a Sight of 
it, & it has something in it of the Chancery upholding the 
Jurisdiction as formerly & approving The Conduct in not 
suffering the Exceptions to be argued in The Oblong Affair; 
w*'.^- Since I have mentioned I may Observe to y? Remains at 
present in suspence for want of Cash." 

Another letter urging Colden to hurry up several patents, in 
which the forehanded Cosby family were interested, so that they 
could be registered while its head was still Hving, was soon 
followed by news of his death. Clarke was now chief of the 
province, and Alexander and Morris were in a far worse posi- 
tion than before. Yet though his friendship for these men was 
as strong as ever, Colden soon managed so to ingratiate himself 
with his new superior that outwardly at least they worked in 
perfect harmony. In a way this was not hard to understand. 
Since the false report of the suspension Colden had been so 
absorbed by the actual labour of his office, fairly Hving in the 
Mohawk wilderness or on the outermost reaches of Ulster, 
Orange, and Dutchess, where the demand for land was greatest, 



A Colonial Surveyor General 59 

that he had had little time or attention to give to party bicker- 
ings, while he had presumably satisfied even Cosby with the 
favours he showed him. Then, too, Clarke was a man of fine 
powers, and commanded and understood the situation as neither 
Montgomerie nor Cosby could possibly have done, and even if 
he was as personally grasping as his predecessor he had the 
sense to perceive that his interests were not ahen to the king's, 
his master's. He was, moreover, as interested as Colden him- 
self in the development of the New York frontier, and claimed 
the credit for suggesting to Cosby that he advertise in DubHn 
and Amsterdam the inducements he offered to the Protestant 
settlers. He was also fired with a desire to press back the 
advancing French, and had many schemes to that end. With 
such Hkeness of aim the two men were almost sure to come 
together even if there were no question of self-interest. It was 
long since Colden had worked with a governor who understood 
what he was doing without being told, and he appreciated it. 

One of the first achievements of the new administration was 
the suppression of the petition for a tract six miles square in 
the Mohawk Valley, made to the king in England by one of 
the Livingstons and a Mr. Storke. Mr. Livingston probably 
had as complete a knowledge of the lands of his province as 
any man not professionally interested; but he pretended un- 
certainty as to this particular tract, and Secretary Popple wrote 
asking whether it had ever been granted, and particularly 
whether it included the land for which the Albanians had 
fraudulently obtained a deed from the Mohawks in Mont- 
gomerie 's day. Fortified by the opinion of the Albany com- 
mon council and that of the Indian commissioners, Clarke ^ 
promptly wrote that to grant a patent for land that had not 
yet been purchased would rouse the Indians. Moreover, as no 
quit-rents were to be exacted for this patent until it became 

^ June i8, 1736. 



6o Cadwallader Colden 

self-supporting, he could not imagine if such terms were once 
given who would ever take patents on any other. But it was 
not until Colden had completed his survey of the matter that the 
governor could write with authority.^ According to the map on 
which the petition was based, Colden had found one of the real 
bounds omitted, and estimated that the tract in its true limits 
extended for one hundred and thirty miles along the river. In- 
deed, so much of its alleged extent was already granted that 
it was evident that no one would ever pay half the cost of an 
EngUsh grant for what was left. Even then it would contain 
at least thirty miles already granted. In short, land was so 
cheap, so easy to get in the colony, that an attempt to secure it 
in England clearly showed some private view which demanded 
a secrecy impossible at close range. Above all, the custom of 
English patents was pernicious in the extreme, as no one could 
tell at any time exactly where he stood. 

The English government did not take his argument so well 
to heart as never to run the risk of again making a similar mis- 
take ; but another reform, brought about indirectly by Livingston, 
proved more lasting. On one of his surveying expeditions to 
the Mohawk Valley, Colden found the Indians greatly disturbed. 
He tried to discover the cause, but several interviews with lead- 
ing sachems failed to elicit any definite information, though 
they talked much and vehemently of some fraudulent land 
deal. At last Colden came to the conclusion that the inter- 
preters were playing him false, and the Indians being impressed 
in like manner, they managed by certain signs to make him 
understand that some persons had by a trick obtained a deed 
of the very land on which they lived. He could get no further 
particulars, but on his return he memorialized the governor in 
council, with the result that a new regulation was formulated 
which made it practically impossible to purchase land from the 
Indians otherwise than honestly. 

^ May 28, 1736. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 6i 

In the land office, affairs in Clarke's administration proceeded 
much as they had done in Cosby's. The same big numbers, 
the same steady activity, prevailed, and the only difference was 
that Clarke's name never appeared as Cosby's had done. He 
must already have had as much land in his own right as even 
he wanted and could afford to trust to his perquisites. Whether 
Cosby or Clarke were governor, also, Horsmanden's schemes 
were the same, and in July, 1736, he wrote accepting some offer 
of assistance Colden had made him and asking him to divide 
two thousand acres into thirteen parts. 

"I own it Requires a very great appology, for requesting you 
to enter upon so Troublesome a Jobb, but I flatter myself from 
the Instances of your Friendship & Good Inchnations tow*^* 
me from the first of Our acquaintance That I may be excused. 
. . . Captn Warren has made a very Great Purchase of M" 
Cosby at Boston 13,000? of the Gov'* Land ... for no;;^. How 
she became so Infatuated I know not, . . . but so it is. Which 
being done I suppose The Capt" will have no thought at 
present abo' getting any other Tract, & I understood as 
much from the Chief Justice the other day talking upon This 
Subject. 

" Therefore if you are persuaded That The Residue of the 
Indian Purchase at Connajohaire is good Land, I should be 
glad if I CO? have a good Slice with yourself & other ffriends, 
ffor as Lands are the best View I have of making money now, I 
would wilHngly make the proper use of the presidents ffriend- 
ship. . . . M" Cosby reed EngUsh Lres [Letters] at Boston, 
whereby we hear That Morris is out of all hopes as to his SoUcita- 
tions That those Great men who were his patrons before are 
now convinced That his Complaints proceeded Rather from 
Spleen & Malice than anything else." And again in December 
he writes: "Zenger is perfectly silent as to polHticks, . . . and 
Old Morris is retired to Hell Gate, ... & says the Devil may 



62 Cadwallader C olden 

take 'em all but if his natural disposition will let him be at 
rest, I am mistaken in the Man. 

"As to anything you can Serve me in abo* Lands, I must rely 
entirely upon your ffriendship & generosity, it is not in my 
way to find out such Land as will answer my present purpose 
to get a Grant of. If you can serve me in that respect in the 
Spring, you'l lay a very great Obhgation upon me & now I 
wish I could come & have a hearty Laugh with y° at the ColP 
Returne." 

Absorbed as he must have been by the stirring events of the 
first months of his administration, Clarke managed to keep in 
touch with its smallest details. For instance, in writing of a Mr. 
Hey ward, an assistant of Golden 's, he says that he seems "to 
be pretty well acquainted with the places that he thinks will 
ascertain the bounds of Evans's Grant and to encourage him 
I promised the Reward you mention, . . . Blagg came w*** 
him who was about to make Some overtures as I apprehended 
on the foot of Heywood's discoveries, but I stopt him by teUing 
him that you having wrote me about those Lands I could say 
nothing to him; before Heywood came to me Noxon was with 
me telhng me that there was a friend of his in Town who had 
made some discoveries wherein the Northwest line might w*? 
certainty be finished, and proposed a grant for himself his 
friend & me. I excused myself and told him whoever expected 
a Grant must be at the Charge of finishing that line, this he 
said he and his friend would do, whom I then and not before 
understood to be this Heywood, who he told me had a letter 
from you to me: But ... I shall have an opportunity for 
Speaking with you or of hearing from you before anything be 
done; If there be no need of running that Nwest line further 
he can have no place to ask for a Grant from what I said to 
him ; Had Heywood been w*.^ me first, I could have stopt his 
mouth as I did Blaggs, but it may be Noxon concerted w*?* 



A Colonial Surveyor General 63 

Heywood, who was the Bearer of this and of the Lycence wherein 
I wish you Success ... I choose as farr as I can to give every 
one Satisfaction." 

As time went on Clarke gained fair control of the turbulent, 
the sullen, and the merely critical who had contested or dis- 
approved his promotion; but his position never became a 
sinecure, and he realized that to relax his hold for an instant 
would be disastrous. To an extent Golden was associated in 
his policies and schemes, they shared many of the same enmi- 
ties, and, as in the affair with Laughlin Campbell, mutual 
loyalty was a necessity. Yet, somehow, Colden never felt sure 
of Clarke, and years after his departure from the colony be- 
lieved the former Ueutenant-governor to be injuring him abroad. 
He had therefore tried to be not too deeply concerned in the 
political game, but even so the years of that administration 
proved full of occupation for him. Not only were his agricul- 
tural experiments more absorbing than ever, not only had he 
never been so interested in scientific research and intellectual 
projects of various sorts, but the work of his office had never 
been more exacting. Clarke's determination to turn the tide 
of settlement toward New York ; to keep the inhabitants 
already within her borders contented and happy ; and to 
prove that she had great natural advantages over Pennsyl- 
vania — which had become the colony most attractive to the 
emigrant — was partially successful. Rents went up, building 
commenced again, and every one wanted land. But this 
desire was so far from being definite that the would-be pro- 
prietors rarely had any particular land in view and Colden 
was in constant receipt of letters such as this: "Perhaps you 
will be surprised when I tell you that I have intentions of be- 
coming a petitioner for Land in the Mohawks country but its 
really true, the Govr having been so good [as] to promis me and 
some of his children a grant if we can find out that which is 



64 Cadwallader Colden 

worth patenting, here is six of us that intend to which with 
you or any one of your family whom you will please to name 
will require 14,000 acres at least. The great difficulty is how 
to find good land which is vacant which difficulty no one can 
surmount but yourself, and as you are going to that Country 
its possible you may meet with that which is good, which if 
you can do and make a purchase of it from the Indians to be 
paid upon the obtaining a Lycence for that purpose which we 
shall do upon Notice we shall readily Comply with such agree- 
ment as you think fitt to make on our behalf." Betty Colden 
doubtless brought Peter Delancey an excellent dowry of broad 
acres, though large frontier estates were not likely to yield 
quick returns or prove readily convertible assets. 

Others of his correspondents merely wished advice or in- 
formation or even a map of their land. "I observed hereto- 
fore," wrote James Alexander, after a request of this last sort 
had been made and granted, "that there was very bare Measure 
in my patent so bare that I found it would bee Deficient iIi^q- 
acres Supposeing the Lines held out their Lengths, & Suppose- 
ing no allowance for highways. . . . The Error I fancy must 
arise by John McNeals S E Comer. ... I should be glad of 
your thoughts on this head & how the matter may be rectified 
that justice may be done to every one. . . . You say right 
that what was called the Country party is very weak in this 
Assembly," he added, "but I hope they'll study the interest 
of the country and if that they do to the best of their ability, 
Its very Indifferent of what party they have been." 

In this administration also Colden, as a member of the com- 
missions appointed to do the work in either case, assisted in 
the settlement of two important boundaries. In 1737 the line 
between New Hampshire and Massachusetts was fixed, and 
in 1 741 the bounds of Rhode Island were first run and then 
pubhshed at Providence, the finding of the commission being 



A Colonial Surveyor General 65 

later confirmed by the king and council. Long absences such 
as these and the increasing detail of his work had forced Golden 
to add to the number of his deputies ; who, however, increased 
rather than reUeved his anxiety, for he found it hard to secure 
the perfection or even the honesty he demanded. But though 
he was a severe master and quick to express his disapproval, 
his employees were apparently glad to serve him, and if they 
disputed the justice of a rebuke, only did so in order to convince 
him that it was ill placed and that they were his faithful servants. 
Still he was not perfect himself, and his activity along all these 
lines was not sufficient excuse for one piece of abject careless- 
ness, which only ajBfords another illustration of the trouble his 
friends always seemed to take in his affairs. In December, 
1737, the elder Smith, who, with Alexander, had managed the 
affair of the oblong, wrote to Golden that the accounts of the 
partners had been made up, telling him his share and asking 
prompt payment in order to save as much interest as possible. 
Just two years later Joseph Murray, who had argued the case 
in court, wrote the partners that he had received as yet only 
his retaining fee, though besides his legal services he had loaned 
the syndicate considerable sums. He had therefore filed a suit 
against them in the Supreme Gourt, which was to come on in 
the January term. This letter Smith and Alexander enclosed 
to Golden, recalling Smith's letter of two years before. They 
could not, they said, blame Mr. Murray, nor should Golden 
blame them for asking him to say whether he would pay the 
balance of his share with interest and his share of the costs of 
Murray's suit ; or whether he would give them an I. O. U. for 
the same ; or whether, if he was not satisfied of the justice of the 
claim, he would send them a power of attorney. If he would 
choose none of these lines of action, they notified him, they 
would issue process against every partner to compel payment.^ 

^ Colden Mss., 1737-1747, December, 1741. 



66 Cadwallader Colden 

To which extraordinary forbearance Colden replied that he 
owned his negligence in not looking over the accounts when in 
town, that he had no objection to paying his share, but that 
he did wish first to assure himself of its accuracy, which he 
should do on his first visit to the city. He, moreover, hoped 
that they would not put those willing to pay to any unnecessary 
charge by a prosecution, adding that while he was satisfied of 
the necessity of Murray's suit for his debt, he was ashamed 
that he should have to sue for his fees and consequently wished 
him to delay action in order that the partners might reward 
him in proportion to their gratitude. Yet Alexander and Smith 
were actually obliged to write again in December, i74i,iour 
years after their first letter, that whereas Murray had delayed 
the suit against them because of their promise to pay interest 
at reasonable times, Colden's continued failure to do his part 
was about to precipitate another action, for which, again, Murray 
could not be blamed. "We have often told you and you well 
know," they said,' "that M": Kennedy & Coll Mathews De- 
pend upon what you do and that we cannot without the greatest 
Reluctance & necessity take process against either of you and 
to take the process agreed upon by the articles of agreement 
against the Rest & not ag you would be said to look like par- 
tiality wherefore we Begg you to consider That this our regard 
for you Kennedy & Mathews tyes our hands . . . and ... we 
must either pay three or four Hundred pounds out of our pocketts 
or take the Steps the Law allows and which had it not been for 
the reason before we should three years ago have done and are 
Resolved this Winter to do upon your answer to this or a Reason- 
able time & opportunity of answer." To this Colden in turn 
replied that since the preceding spring his absence in New 
England, sickness in his family, and a contagious disease in the 
neighbourhood must be his excuse, but that for the rest of the 

1 December, 1741. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 67 

time he had none to offer. "I am very much obliged to you 
and Mr. Smith," he went on/ "for the regard you show me but 
as I have not time now so much as to look into the accounts 
which I formerly had & which I suspect differ from the enclosed 
& as I have no certain conveyance even of this to you any delay 
now given to what you expect I hope will not be attributed to 
negUgence or willfull delay I hereby however promise to pay 
to you or Mr. Smith the ballance due by me on the account of 
the Equivalent lands with Interest from the first of this month 
on the terms fixed in your joint letter of this month within a 
year after the date of this. This I hope will be sufficient to 
enable you to proceed against the others without any Impu- 
tation of partiahty." In May, 1742, however. Golden finally set- 
tled his accounts, though, by sending in a counter bill by which 
he charged for his own services and for interest thereon, he 
reduced his debt to one-fourth its original amount. 

By the arrival of George Glinton in 1743, the prospects of 
the surveyor general, which had on the whole been more than 
fair under the Glarke regime, darkened suddenly, for the new 
governor at once attached himself to the Delanceys, with whom 
Glarke had been at odds and between whom and Golden, despite 
a family connection, no love had ever been lost. Out of politics 
for the time being, the outbreak of the French war soon put 
an absolute check on land speculation and investment, and for 
many months the only real satisfaction of an official nature 
that Golden enjoyed came to him when the Mohawks openly 
demanded that Ghancellor Livingston's patent for a large 
tract of land, which they said he had never paid for, be revoked. 
"It is a vile family," said Glinton, thus confirming many a 
warning. Unfortunately for Golden, his time of retirement 
was brief. After a while, owing to the desertion of the governor's 
first advisers, he began to receive advances from Glinton, who, 

^ December 19, 1741. 



68 Cadwallader Colden 

indeed, continued to make them until he succeeded in winning 
a new mentor. But, though Colden had yielded more from duty 
than inclination, or at least thought that he had, once in the 
toils he determined to make the best possible use of that which 
fate had sent him. Once again, this time through Clinton's 
pen,^ he informed the government that the provincial officials 
should have a safe salary; that the quit-rents as due at the 
rate of £2 ts. per one hundred acres would yield £4000 
annually; and that this was more than the assembly had ever 
granted. The abuses arising out of the partial construction of 
the regulations made in regard to the granting and the holding 
of land had improved not at all since the days of his young man- 
hood, and to this fact Colden attributed the conditions already 
so deplored by Clarke. With all her superior commercial and 
physical advantages. New York was undoubtedly being pro- 
portionally outstripped in population and prosperity by her 
neighbours. But, Colden later wrote to Shirley, it no longer 
seemed possible to institute a reform save by act of Parliament 
only.^ A stricter administration of the Chancery Court, for 
instance, though apparently the true solution of the difficulty, 
would prove none at all. The governor was also chancellor, 
and could never withstand the storm of accusations of self- 
interest and unfair deaUng which would break out at the sHghtest 
attempt to enforce his instructions. Equally fatal would be his 
(Colden 's) own advocacy of any measure, so great had been his 
unpopularity ever since the defeat of the Partition Act of 1726, 
brought about, as it had been, by his influence. 

Perhaps for this reason, as soon as peace became a fact 
Colden began through the devoted Alexander to take steps 
toward insuring himself a life tenure of his office by the grant 
of a commission during good behaviour, planning also to ask its 

» New York Col. Docs., VI, 378-380. 
» July 25, 1749. Colden Mss., 1 747-1 754. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 69 

reversion for his son, who was in the meantime to share in its 
execution but not in its profits unless by Colden's gift. It was 
two years, however, before Alexander felt that the right moment 
for his mission had come, and it was January, 1751, when the 
commission to the desired effect was obtained/ By this time 
the land office was fairly active again, and the governor's family 
were taking care that they should have something to carry home 
with them. Already vaguely hurt by what seemed indifference 
on the part of his chief ally, Clinton felt that Golden was not 
assisting him in this laudable endeavour as he should. "His 
Excellency being very busy in answering Letters reed by Dean 
who arrived Wednesday has order 'd me to acquaint you that 
as he shall always have a great Value for those Gentlemen that 
stood firmly to him, in opposition against the vile Faction & will 
continue so to do them Services as long as it is in his power. 
And as Mr Holland has been remarkable that way, & has 
lately lost a Post, that he gave him, which loss his Ex"'' would 
if possible make up to him if he could so you will observe 
enclosed is an Offer to him, which may turn out to his advantage, 
for which reason His Excellency desires you would immediately 
answer that part of it which is referred in it to you. . . . Please 
to excuse blotts & Erasings for I have not time to write it over 
again. . . . Inclosed is a Draught of the vacant Land at 
Schoharie which please to examine with other draughts of 
patented Land & return it again to his Excellency." 

This was followed the next day by a letter from Alexander. 
"Doctor Ayscough acquainted me this morning that his Ex^ 
Supped abroad last night with Some Gen* that he was appre- 
hensive had used insinuations with His Excellency to your 
prejudice. That his Ex'' rested ill last night and this morning 
expressed to him Some of what he believed were those insinua- 
tions. 

* Records of the Executive Council. 



70 Cadwallader Colden 

"After the Doctor's acquainting me that in General you 
delayed the patents that you might have the fees of them &c I 
told him there was no giveing answers to Generals and begged 
he would set down particulars & I could Communicate to you 
not doubting you would give a Satisfactory Answer to such 
particulars. 

"Thereon the Doctor wrote the above notes and promised to 
bring me a list of the patents ordered therein pointing out which 
of them lay at your door to Expedite." 

According to these notes Colden had delayed Colonel John- 
son's grant for the want of a quadrant; had also delayed 
Mayor Holland's because of some defect in order to supply 
which it had been sent up to Albany; had neglected to 
return the survey of several other patents; and had received 
visits from Livingston and Beekman. Besides this list of 
crimes, the notes requested that Colden report on Livingston's 
petition so that Chnton could answer the ministry if asked 
about it, while he was to leave the details of the contract by 
which he was to supply firewood and candles for the fort gar- 
rison entirely to Alexander. "As to Livingston's being with 
you," Alexander proceeded, "I told the Doctor that it was on 
my recommendation, in order to advise with you, and have 
your assistance. . . . That Beekman had Employed your 
Son Cadwallader to make Some Surveys for him concerning 
Causes that he has depending at Law, And I Supposed that was 
what brought him to your house, That I was concerned in those 
causes against Beekman, but was not in the Least jealous for 
that reason. . . . Doctor Ascough has read so far & approves 
it, & gives his hearty Compliments to you." "His Excellency 
may depend on my doing everything in my power to serve his 
friends," Colden promptly repHed, " & that I shall hkewise 
have a particular pleasure in obhging Mr Holland. It is 
impossible for me to know whether the Map of the Survey 



A Colonial Surveyor General 71 

inclosed in yours to me be true or not because it appears from 
the face of it that there must be an error either in it or on the 
Surveys of the patented lands. By the Map which you send 
me the Vacancy amounts to 887 & 270 acres in the whole to 
1 157 Acres. But if the Surveys of the patented land be right 
the Vacancy amounts to above 1500 acres. As in your letter 
you mention only the first Quantity Therefore I think it most 
prudent to Petition for the Vacant Land without mentioning 
the Quantity but any Quantity which shall be found vacant 
not exceeding two thousand Acres. The great Patent at Scohary 
to Myndert Schuyler was granted before I was in the office & 
I have no register of that Survey & consequently cannot ex- 
amine this Map with it. When the Petition shall be made & 
granted I cannot return the Survey to the office till a Survey be 
made of the Patented lands in order to discover what Vacancy 
remains for I cannot be warranted by trusting to a private 
Survey don I know not how or by whom." 

"I must say I was in hopes from the long knowledge his 
ExcelF has had of me," he wrote at the same time to Alexander, 
" & in difficult times that he could not have entertained any 
Jealousies that I would wilUngly do anything to his prejudice. 
I still hope that upon his ExcelF* deUberately reflecting on 
my past Conduct he will still Continue in the opinion that I 
cannot be guilty of anything ungratefull towards him. If my 
past conduct cannot clear me from any Jealousy of that kind I 
know not what can. 

"I defy any man to shew that I have in any shape put any 
the least delay to the Granting of Lands surveyed as the only 
appearance of delay which I think can be pretended may be 
with regard to a patent of Lands in the Mohawks Country in 
which the mayor is concerned, I must beg your patience in 
being very particular on that head. The License of purchase 
requires that the lands be surveyed before the conveyance is 



72 Cadwallader C olden 

made from the Indians That the Boundaries as actually sur- 
veyed in presence of the Indians be inserted in the Deed that 
the Surveyor certify on the back that he had surveyed the land 
according to the boundaries inserted in the Deed and he and a 
Justice of Peace shall hkewise certify that they saw the con- 
sideration money paid to the Indians. This has been the con- 
stant practice for fifteen years past as will appear by the pur- 
chases in the Secretaries office. In order to obhge the Mayor I 
gave a Deputation to one Bleeker at his desire to survey the land 
last fall though I had refused the like to others. When I was 
last at New York the Mayor brought me an Indian Purchase & 
a Survey made by Bleeker. The purchase was of Prior date 
to the Survey. The Boundaries . . . were not the same with 
the Survey nor could I from anything on the Deed know that 
the survey was of the same land. Neither was the endorse- 
ments by the Surveyor & Justice of Peace made as required 
by the Law. I told the Mayor that I thought that patent 
would not pass the Council ... & advised him to send it 
back immediatly to have a new deed . . . made. 

" When the Mayor came to my Lodgings Nicholas Bayard was 
with me to have my son to go & survey a purchase in the 
Mohawk Country. Mr. Bayard had wrote to my son to sur- 
vey the lands in his Licence. My son in answer wrote to him 
that he heard that Theobald Yough & others had purchased 
the land ... on which he said he would enter a caveat against 
granting that land & said some warm things. I did not let 
him know that the Mayor was concerned in that patent nor of 
any defects . . . but after he was gone, I informed the Mayor 
of what he had said & told him there was the more reason to 
have his patent made in proper form. In all this I think I 
acted a friendly part to the Mayor. I could not be certain 
that the land in which the Mayor is concerned is the same that 
Bayard has or intends to purchase nor could Bayard be certain 



A Colonial Surveyor General 73 

of it. I could not refuse to send my son to survey his patent 
without raising a clamour that must have been prejudicial to 
myself & could not have been of any service to the Mayor, but 
otherwise. ... I told Coll Johnson," Golden went on to ex- 
plain, "that if he would either buy or borrow or hire James Liv- 
ingstons Quadrant I would carry it home & try it to know how 
far it may be depended on & instruct my son in the use of it, . . . 
This I told him last year & Ukewise when I was last at New 
York he may have some reasons for delaying the patent which 
he does not tell me but when I was last at New York he told me 
that he could not go on with the purchase at this time for that 
some of all the Five Nations must meet before he can make the 
purchase & be present at the Survey & that he did not know 
when he could have them to meet for that purpose the Lands 
on Susquehana River being in common among all the Nations. 
"You know the one & only reason of M"" Livingstons coming 
to my house. Coll Beekman never was at my house in his hfe 
that I remember neither have I seen him since some time last 
fall when he desired me to make a proposal to you relating to 
the lands in controversy between you and him. He came to 
my son's the day after I left my son's house on my way to New 
York the last time I was there. He was in such haste the sloop 
waiting for him that he did not enter the door but talkt to him 
... & went directly again on board. I have not by word mes- 
sage or letter directly or indirectly had any intercourse with any 
of the Faction unless M'' Bayards coming to my Lodging be 
called such & which he did only because he imagined it to be 
in my power to favour him on which occasion he said some 
foolish fawning things which I told the Govr & some others 
as a jest & in the manner it deserved. I cannot avoid con- 
versing with people without distinction on matters relating to 
my office & to my private affairs. The persons concerned 
with the Mayor in the purchase of the lands before mentioned 



74 Cadwallader Colden 

have distinguished themselves notoriously in the Faction at 
Albany as it is said his own Brothers have done. . . . 

"His Excellency I beheve is not well informed of the dis- 
tinction of Granting of Lands to the persons who have purchased 
them from the Indians & Granting Lands that have been all- 
ready purchased & where the Grantee is freed from that 
charge. In the first case the purchaser having an equitable 
right to the King's grant." 

When, moreover, according to Ayscough's promise, a full 
list of the patents was sent him Colden first pointed 
out that Hcenses to purchase were not sent to the surveyor 
general's office but dehvered to the purchaser, the surveyor 
general knowing nothing of them until they were returned to 
the secretary (of the province), when a warrant of survey was 
issued, the purchaser later returning the completed survey to 
the same official as a preliminary to receiving his patent. Then, 
first stating that he had neglected no such warrant, he went 
through the Ust in detail, showing that the complainants had 
either obtained the warrant and then put off the survey, with 
the surveyor ready and wilUng to make it, or they had not even 
appHed for a warrant; or, and this included the majority, they 
had neglected to return the finished survey to the office. Even 
after this apparently candid statement, it was only after the 
expenditure of much ingenuity on the part of Dr. Ayscough 
and Mr. Alexander that Clinton was brought to realize that 
Colden had treated him ill neither in this nor in other respects. 
And even then his mind, having once taken a suspicious turn, 
was inclined to take it again as soon as the friendly pressure of 
the two conspirators was removed. Besides, he was getting 
anxious to become a landowner of some significance before he 
returned to England, and it was not long before he was feeling 
his way to this end. "Mrs. Clinton and myself," he wrote 
Colden on July 28, 1752, "having been often asked by our 



A Colonial Surveyor General 75 

Friends, if we had not taken up Lands for Ourselves and 
Children, our answer was, that as we were going home so soon, 
we did not think it worth our whiles, and in short, did not know 
in what method to do it, for want of proper Information, and 
that very few Lands had been granted till lately. But as 
(contrary to my Inchnations and Expectations) I find that I 
am to remain in the Province, God knows how long, I cant 
but think it incumbent upon me for the sake of my Family, to 
do what I can for them ; and being informed that one Fourth of 
all Lands patented, are vested in the Crown & set apart for the 
use of the King, and consequently for myself, which was done, 
I believe, by your Regulation for the Benefit of Governours, 
and as the Purchas and Survey are paid for by the Petitioners, 
I must think I have a just Right of such a Fourth, to take out 
Patents for the same for my Family & Friends, I shall be much 
obliged to you to put me into a Method how to do it ; As I have 
been so often pressed to it by friends to take up a Fourth of all 
future Patents, granted while I stay on the Spot. I must rely 
on your Friendship, that in all Returns of Survey to come you 
will do the King justice by impartially dividing the Lands, so 
that his Majesty's fourth may be as good as any of the other 
three parts, and when so divided, I cannot but think it just 
that Lots may be drawn for the Fourth." 

But whether Colden did his best for him or not, Clinton 
continued to feel somewhat sore. "His Excellency being up 
to the Elbows in pen. Ink & Paper has not time to write him- 
self by this opportunity, but orders me to acquaint you, that in 
pursuance of your Letter to him, sometime before he fixed for 
his Departure, wherein you desire to purchase his land in Dan- 
bury Township, patented in my Name, for which you offered 
him ;£4oo, (and) he said he would accept of your proposal. But 
your Silence on that head when down here, makes him think 
you had dropt your design, or forgot it, as well as he had to 



y6 Cadwallader Colden 

mention it to you. But as there is now application made for 
it, he desires your Answer on that head as he will do nothing 
in it till he hears your Determination." 

This letter, as it happened, was dated November instead of 
September and was unsigned, points to which Colden promptly 
called attention, and which Ayscough as promptly acknowledged. 
"I very well remember your telhng me," the latter went on, 
"that a part of the Tract of Land, patented in my name and 
conveyed to his Excellency from me, would be of great Service 
to you, as you had a Lot directly opposite to his, on the other 
side of a Brook or River, and where, as you told me, some of 
your Tenants had settled, (tho' on his Excellencys Land), as 
I have seen in a Draught of both Patents, and if I rightly re- 
member, you told me, you made no Doubt, but the Governour 
would let you have the Land, as it would be of a very great 
Convenience to your Tenants and Service to you, the Stream 
being very proper for a Mill, this I acquainted his Excellency 
with, as you desired me. But really I cannot charge my 
Memory at this time with his Answer, if he gave me any, 
neither did I know anything of your proposal till he told me 
the morning I wrote to you by his Order upon it. 

" I carried your Letter to his Excellency, & he tells me, that 
... he imagined it would be of more value to you than another, 
for which reason only he would accept of your offer of ;^40o 
preferable to any AppUcation notwithstanding that part of the 
Patent, which you say, you would still gladly have a hundred 
Acres of, his Excellency says might probably be equivalent to the 
whole in Value, yet his Excellency orders me to acquaint [you] 
that he will accept of your first Proposalls, as the thing may be of 
Benifit to you, and compensate for the Expence you was at in Sur- 
veying it ; He would be glad to hear from you on this Head, as he 
would also upon what you and he talked of, when you was here 
last, on which he was in expectation to have had your Senti- 



A Colonial Surveyor General 77 

ments before now." To this Colden replied by writing to 
Clinton himself as follows: "There are some things in a letter 
which I received by Mr. Harrison from Mr. Ascough which 
I think necessary to be answered and which I hope your Ex- 
cellency will think cannot be properly done otherwise than 
directly to yourself. From the letter it is evident that he & 
perhaps your Excellency thinks that I intended to deceive 
your Excellency in desiring to purchase only that part of 
the land granted to Dr Ascough which is adjoining to a lot of 
land which I have there. One hundred acres adjoining to 
mine by his Account being more valuable than all the remainder. 
This has made me resolve to purchase neither the whole nor 
any part of that land & in this I believe your Excellency thinks 
I do you no injury by the manner in which it is continued to be 
offered to me for the sum your Excel''' was pleased to agree 
to accept from me last summer. But at the same time I abso- 
lutely deny that I ever told Dr Ayscough that there was a 
Stream of Water convenient for a Mill adjoining to my Lot, 
Because to my knowledge it is not true. The place for a mill 
is on Croton's River & Croton's River runs through my land 
but The place for a Mill is a Mile to the Southward of any part 
of my land. And the meadow grounds on Croton's River 
which I suppose Dr Ayscough means are not opposite to my 
Lot but to a Lot belonging to Mr Smith which adjoins mine 
to the Southward & these meadow grounds however are noth- 
ing of the value which the Dr seems to put on them. The 
Doctor has information of the land & I shall say nothing 
further in contradiction to what others may say The truth can 
easily be proved by ocular Demonstration on the Spot. If I 
had only a view to serve myself I could have taken a patent 
on anothers name for the same land without your Excellency's 
knowing anything of it as others have don. My intention was 
to serve your Excellency in it & your Excellency will never in 



78 Cadwallader Colden 

truth discover that I ever intended anything to the contrary 
in order to serve myself. I have before this observed a De- 
sign somewhere to give your Excellency a prejudice against me. 
I cannot remove it without knowing the grounds of it. Others 
may be more successful but none can be more faithfull than 
I have been. The Dr tells me that your Excellency expects to 
hear from me on what your Excellency talkt to me when last 
at New York. Whatever it be it has entirely escaped my 
memory & therefore must beg a renewal of your Commands 
on that head." 

Satisfied or not, the time had come for Clinton to give place 
to another, who of his own free will and at once gave place 
in turn to James Delancey. This was a great disappoint- 
ment for Colden. Sometime before the arrival of the new 
governor he had written to the ministry for an increase in his 
salary as surveyor general, and although Halifax replied through 
CHnton that Horace Walpole, the auditor general, declared 
Colden 's salary to be large enough; and although later he 
wrote to Colden himself that the income of the New York 
estabUshment was less than its expenditure ; Colden chose to 
consider his somewhat vague praises an earnest of future 
importance.* The bhghting of his pohtical prospects, how- 
ever, was followed by a dead silence on the part of his corre- 
spondent, and when his friend ColUnson obtained a personal 
interview, he was told that Walpole had now told Halifax that 
Mr. Pelham's death had put Newcastle in charge of such mat- 
ters and had made the desired increase extremely problematical.^ 

Now more than ever glad that his commission was secure, 
Colden could not but regret that he would be even less likely to 
influence legislation for the correction of the abuses with which 
his work continually brought him in contact than he had been 

* Written May 17, 1753, though it did not reach New York until September. 
^ From CoUinson, July 30, 1754. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 79 

in the past. With the French marching onward ahnost hour 
by hour, the man who had studied their claims with enthusiasm, 
and who, in all probabiUty, knew more of the geography of the 
country than any other, was destined to be of importance. At 
the same time, it was a secondary importance; he was to be 
little more than a book of reference, and Golden did not rehsh 
the prospect. He longed to be a constructive statesman, and 
in order to show what he could do had he the chance, and be 
ready for emergencies, he, about this time, when the interest 
of thoughtful men the colonies over was turned toward the 
Albany congress, sketched a plan of colonial government of 
his own, in which a landed and exclusive aristocracy was a 
chief feature. The colonies, however, were entering on a period 
rather concrete than abstract, and for the next seven years there 
was little time for theorizing on the relations between colony 
and colony or colony and crown. In New York, in particular, 
the last French war, with its stirring of racial impulses ; the 
struggle for the boundary she had long considered her own 
with its accompaniments of what amounted to border warfare ; 
the controversy as to the government of the new college with 
its tightening of rehgious prejudices, — all served to distract 
attention from the jeal issue. Yet these events were constantly 
affecting it in one way or another. If the war emphasized the 
essential unity of Englishmen, it also showed the colonists how 
possible it was to work together effectively ; if the estabhshment 
of King's College proved the presence of many to whom English 
methods and traditions were dear, it also proved them to be 
far in the minority ; and if the boundary disputes made neigh- 
bours enemies, it also showed them the necessity of a govern- 
ment that could assist them in their difficulties. The war also, 
of course, put a stop to the task of the surveyor. But Colden 
did not know the meaning of relaxation or indifference, and, 
though his relations with the head of the government forbade 



8o Cadwallader Colden 

any but the most casual attendance on the council, he kept a 
watchful eye on its activities, and by letters of suggestion and 
advice contributed materially to the protection of the frontier, 
v^^hile he scanned the uncertain proceedings on the New Jersey, 
the New Hampshire, and the Massachusetts Unes, seeing one 
day undo the work of the preceding, with unabated interest. 
Indeed, he himself served at one time as a commissioner on the 
boundary between New York and Massachusetts. Thus the 
summons of 1760 found him mentally so alive to the situation 
that he was enabled to bridge with considerable ease the passage 
from leisurely experiment and speculation to political activity 
of a controversial sort. 

His interest in land was now twofold, and one of his first 
letters home in his new official capacity urged a fund for pur- 
chasing land from the Indians for the king's use, and in his 
name, in order to prevent the abuses almost inseparably con- 
nected with private purchase. These had become more notice- 
able of late, because the most recent instructions had dropped 
the clause requiring the presence of the surveyor general wherever 
boundaries were run, and had, by impHcation at least, given 
permission to the governor to employ any surveyor he liked, a 
permission that had been well taken. Yet there had never been 
more need of care. The first turn in the tide of war had been 
made use of by Lieutenant-Governor Delancey, and, in 1759, 
he had issued a proclamation oflFering special inducements to 
officers of volunteers and regulars to settle in the region east of 
Lake Champlain. His offer was accepted with considerable 
promptness, and just before and just after Colden's arrival in 
New York, a large number of petitions for the purchase of land 
were presented to the council. Colden, however, though long 
in favour of peopling the frontiers, thought this movement a 
trifle premature. He preferred to wait until the bounds of the 
colony had been defined by the actual articles of peace, inti- 



A Colonial Surveyor General 8i 

mated that the petitions of Captain Skene and six provincial 
colonels, each of whom wanted a township, should be run as 
usual by crown officers; and, when he was confirmed in his 
opinion by receiving a petition from several officers of the 
provincial forces for land which he found included within the 
bounds mentioned by the captain, put a prompt stop to all 
proceedings in regard to the matter, while he waited for in- 
structions from home. There was land enough and to spare, 
and it was absurd to confuse matters hopelessly when there 
was no necessity for it. 

This was especially true because there was a great deal of 
necessary confusion. Although, in conformity with the claims 
of the conquered Dutch, the grant to the Duke of York had 
expHcitly made the Connecticut River New York's eastern 
boundary; although the final settlement with Connecticut had 
been founded on this provision; although the Massachusetts 
charter, or the charter on which it was based, only extended 
the western bounds of that colony so far as they could go with- 
out clashing with the claims of other Christians; the Massa- 
chusetts people had never accepted this limitation, and New 
Hampshire, being empowered by its charter to extend as far 
westward as Connecticut and Massachusetts, had to a degree 
followed her lead. In 1749, however, the governor of New 
Hampshire, Benning Wentworth, wrote Clinton that as he was 
about to make some grants west of the Connecticut, he wished 
to know how far north and east New York extended. At the 
same time he offered certain reasons for his belief in his juris- 
diction beyond the river, and the next year, in acknowledging 
Clinton's communication of a minute of council declaring the 
New York position, stated that he had already issued letters 
patent for the town of Bennington, twenty-four miles east of 
Albany. CUnton replied that this land had already been granted 
by New York, and he added that he was greatly surprised at 



82 Cadwallader Colden 

Wentworth's hurry under the circumstances. Wentworth then 
proposed a reference of the whole matter to England, in accept- 
ing which proposition, Clinton proposed in turn that they ex- 
change their statements before submitting them. Wentworth 
announced himself quite willing to do so, and New York pro- 
ceeded to give the reasons for her conviction in the form of a 
report of a committee of council, reenforced by some observa- 
tions of Colden 's, proving that Massachusetts, and consequently 
New Hampshire, had no legal claim west of the Connecticut. 
Meanwhile, notwithstanding his promises or the explanations 
already made him, Wentworth had written to the Board of 
Trade, reverting to his original argument and claiming for his 
province a western line running twenty miles east of the Hudson, 
which letter, sent to CUnton by the Board of Trade, was his 
first intimation of Wentworth's readiness to report and was 
pronounced "extraordinary," by the council, who again refuted 
the New Hampshire governor's premises. 

Nevertheless, nothing further had been done when Colden re- 
turned to the city of New York in 1760. Instead, he found 
the situation comphcated by the preemption of a vast tract of 
land east of the Hudson and south of Crown Point by the 
famous John Henry Lydius and a number of New Englanders, 
a tract that included Fort Edward and several regularly granted 
patents and amounted in all to more than a milhon acres. 
Lydius based his claim on an Indian deed, signed by several 
Iroquois, and dated 1732 ; but it had been confirmed by a grant 
by the governor of Massachusetts, supposed to be dated 1744, 
and repeating an order from the king to Shirley to examine it, 
and, if he found it to be bona fide, to grant it. But, if Massachu- 
setts had anything to say about it at all, the grant should have 
been made by her General Court. Yet Lydius had persisted 
and, by his own confession, had granted portions of his claim to 
more than seven hundred individuals, who declared themselves 



A Colonial Surveyor General S;^ 

ready to defy the officers of the law by force. Lydius himself 
was now in jail under prosecution, but there was no money 
with which to prosecute him, and Golden, realizing that proceed- 
ings of like character would be more instead of less frequent 
unless something was done, issued a proclamation declaring 
the Connecticut to be New York's eastern boundary. At the 
same time he described the situation to his ministerial corre- 
spondents, urging, in general, the establishment of a contingent 
fund for just such cases and, in particular, the declaration of his 
Majesty's pleasure in regard to the New Hampshire line. In 
fact, this was all that was necessary, as the right both to the soil 
and that to jurisdiction lay immediately in the crown. Then 
pointing out the limitation of New York's commerce that 
would ensue if New Hampshire came out victorious, as well as 
the inconvenience of making Portsmouth the capital for so 
large a district, he called attention to certain features of the 
case with Massachusetts. It was evident that her repeated 
and capricious objections to the attempts made to effect a 
decision must have a reason, and Golden suggested that this 
might spring from a hope of forcing the king to her wishes, 
the pubUc opinion of a charter government, where every man 
felt himself interested, supporting the delay. As usual, he had 
remedies to offer. There might be a special commission ap- 
pointed by the crown, but this was expensive and the assembly 
would be unwilUng to give unUmited credit ; or writs of intru- 
sions returnable in the New York courts might be issued by 
order of the governor. These could be accompanied by direc- 
tions to Massachusetts to plead to such jurisdiction, and that 
would bring the case to England where it could best be decided, 
as the whole issue depended upon the construction of the Massa- 
chusetts charter. 

About this time Golden also reached other conclusions in 
regard to the general question. Amherst's brilliant success at 



84 Cadwallader Colden 

Fort Levis in 1760 had been followed at his suggestion by a 
proclamation urging the return of the settlers who had been 
driven by the war from their outlying farms, as well as the com- 
ing of others, the advantages of the fertile fields on either side 
of the Mohawk being especially emphasized. But according 
to the instructions the patentees were efifectually to improve 
within three years a certain quantity of their land — the amount 
to be determined by the council — or forfeit the grant. By the 
instructions also, on the same penalty, a patentee must leave 
untouched all pines fit for masts. This might mean in certain 
cases that he could not clear his land or build his house or his 
barn or, if he Uved on the water, his boat ; while his farm was 
probably so far from New York or Albany that the British 
navy or merchant marine would reap little profit from his 
trees. So he might forfeit his grant either way. From such 
prohibitions the inhabitants of the charter governments to the 
east were free, and it behooved all to consider what they prom- 
ised. Indeed, the council were debating the question at that 
moment. 

Difficulties had also sprung up with Sir WilUam Johnson,* 
who, early in the spring of 1761, had obtained a large tract of 
land north of the Mohawk by deed of gift from the Indians. 
Unfortunately, Colonel Delancey and others had shortly before 
obtained a license to purchase the same tract and, mindful of 
the rule forbidding the acceptance of lands from the Indians 
by purchase or otherwise, without a Hcense, Colden tried to 
bring about a compromise. But, though he told Johnson that 
he wished him well and expressed his sorrow at not being able 
to oblige him, the fact remained that he did not present his 
case to the council, and Johnson was correspondingly indignant. 
It was, therefore, with pleasure that he informed Colden that 
the Indians had determined to sell no more of their lands, and 

* Colden Letter Books, I, 87, 93-97, and 130-131. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 85 

that a large tract east of "the waters," which the council were 
about to grant to some "reduced officers," belonged to the 
Mohawks, a fact which Golden doubted, as the tract lay in what 
once had been the DelHus patent. Colden's candid letters, how- 
ever, seem finally to have soothed Sir WilUam. The furtherance 
of a greater or lesser number of grants, the lieutenant-gov- 
ernor protested, had Uttle personal interest for him, for, passed 
they never so quickly, he would hardly be on hand to reap the 
advantage. But perhaps what won the old colonel's heart 
was Colden's determination that, whatever happened, the 
Indians should not suffer while he was in authority. Indeed, 
he was so anxious they should be reassured that he wrote beg- 
ging Johnson to call to their minds what he had done for them 
thirty years before.* This was in connection with a land fraud 
at Canajoharie, which Johnson was investigating, though not 
very systematically. He had laid the case before the council 
without affidavits, owing to which circumstance, as Colden 
wrote him, they could not do a thing, though they appeared 
sympathetic. Colden therefore advised him to go back to 
the frauds in the original purchase, of which he beUeved David 
Schuyler and his son could tell him much, and to get a complaint 
in writing from the Indians, for whose temporary relief he him- 
self would work in the meanwhile. 

In all this, it is true, Colden had been acting as governor 
rather than as surveyor general, though he retained the second 
office until the early part of 1763, when he resigned in favour 
of his son. Still, so entirely was his policy in these matters 
governed by his knowledge, and so entirely had he attained his 
knowledge from his past experience, that it is impossible not 
to consider this particular phase of his stewardship a natural 
culmination of his former occupation. He was now, as lieu- 
tenant-governor, called upon to deal with a successor of the 

^ Colden Letter Books, I, 70-71. 



86 Cadwallader Colden 

measure he had fought so long before. Another act for the 
partition of lands in common now made its appearance, and 
so vehement were its sponsors that Colden did not dare refuse 
it his countenance, though he sent it to England by the first 
ship after its passage, in order, if possible, to get the royal dis- 
approval before it went into execution. Neither Governor 
Hardy nor Governor Monckton had comphed with their in- 
structions calhng for a determined attempt to break the huge 
grants still existing, and indeed it would have cost them dear 
to do so. A great interest would have attacked them and they 
had no contingent fund for the actual expense involved. More- 
over, though the attorney generals of New York had formerly 
been lavi^ers of repute, for more than thirty years their ability 
had been such that private citizens had refused to intrust 
them with their affairs. It was only the king and his governors 
who were forced to employ them. Colden therefore got a 
clause inserted in the act requiring that the bounds of every 
tract be run by the surveyor general, when, if they were found 
to encroach on the king's lands, writs of intrusion would prove 
equally effective and far less Hable to arouse general opposition 
than an attempt to break a grant for some legal defect. At 
that very time, for instance, as he enclosed a map to show, 
there was a dispute of this sort before the council between Van 
Rensselaer of the Manor and several others who had petitioned 
for land within his claim but not within his actual grant, and 
the question was; Should their petition be refused when they 
were willing to pay for and defend their purchase ? ^ 

But Colden was to have worse to bear than impersonal mat- 
ters such as these. Late in the year 1761, just when he had 
promised himself the pleasure of presenting to the ministry 
with some authority his plans for the settlement of the country, 
the Board of Trade memoriaUzed the king to the effect that the 

• Colden Letter Books, I, 155-158. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 87 

lieutenant-governor and the council of New York had been 
pushing the granting of lands more for their own benefit than 
for that of the people in general. At the same time they noti- 
fied Colden of what they had done/ touching him to the quick 
and bringing forth a vehement denial. He solemnly declared 
his absolute lack of interest in any Indian purchase, any Hcense 
to purchase any grant of land, and promised a particular 
answer to particular instances. As to his family, a man with 
grown-up grandchildren might be supposed to be free from 
responsibihty for their purchases, but even here he did not 
know of a single investment since his administration began. 
If, moreover, he and the council had made the conditions of 
the grants somewhat easy, it was for a very good reason. Am- 
herst's proclamation had given rise to a number of Ucenses to 
purchase land on the frontiers. For this purpose it was neces- 
sary to get the whole tribe owning it together, and as this was 
a difficult and expensive proceeding, it became customary for 
the prospective patentees to lump their purchases, the rich 
speculator advancing money for the expenses of the poor set- 
tler. The latter, with his interest to pay, could not then hope 
to meet the exact requirements of the instructions, but Colden 
affirmed that as yet he had had to do with but two actual grants, 
one of twenty thousand acres, which had not passed the seals, 
and another of small extent and granted before Colden had 
received an additional instruction effectually prohibiting the 
purchase of land from the Indians. It must have been hard 
for a man to be accused of the very thing he had so long hunted 
down in others, but Colden was elastic and was soon declaiming 
against land greediness as before. "We have a Set of Lawyers 
in this Province as Insolent, Petulant, and at the same time as 
well skilled in all the Chicanerie of the Law as is perhaps to 
be found any where else," ^ he was soon writing in discussing 

* Ibid., 176-184. * Colden Letter Books, I, 231. 



88 Cadwallader Golden 

the difficulty of annulling the over-large grants, once they were 
made. 

Meanwhile Governor Monckton ^ had come and gone, leav- 
ing behind a representation made to him by five members of 
council in regard to New York's disputed boundaries. This 
Golden found, and fearing that Monckton would present its 
contents verbally to the authorities at home, he at once set him- 
self to correct its mistakes. These had to do entirely with the 
eastern boundary, which these gentlemen ventured to consider 
should have been fixed, as in the case of Gonnecticut, by the 
royal commission of 1664, which had determined the boundary 
between New York and Massachusetts to be a Hne twenty miles 
distant from, and parallel to, the east bank of the Hudson. To 
this Golden objected ; first, because no one had mentioned such 
a provision for nearly a hundred years, which was odd consider- 
ing Massachusetts' desire to make the best claim possible; 
and in the second place, he asserted, the agreement with Gon- 
necticut could not be claimed as a parallel case because that 
had been based on equity, her principal towns having been 
settled west of her namesake river when the Duke of York 
received his patent, whereas Massachusetts had at that 
time not once crossed it. Besides, the Massachusetts charter 
had been annulled in 1685 by a decree in Ghancery that had 
never been reversed, and this fact, despite a second charter 
granted later, absolutely negatived any claim prior to the duke's 
patent, which was clear and distinct. Moreover, this second 
charter decreed that Massachusetts should extend only as far 
west as Gonnecticut, rather ambiguous phrasing that must in 
all common sense be considered to mean the river and not the 
colony. Indeed, the only possible argument against this boun- 
dary was the suffering it might cause the actual settlers, and even 
this was unnecessary when it could be arranged that they retain 
their possessions under the jurisdiction of New York.^ All 

1 See " A Colonial Executive." ^ Golden Letter Books, I, 232-246. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 89 

these considerations, of course, applied with double force to 
New Hampshire, whose governor, it was discovered about this 
time, had lately granted more than thirty, some said one hun- 
dred and fifty, townships west of the Connecticut, and had 
granted them so light-heartedly that they were actually being 
offered for sale in New York and New Jersey by a man "in 
appearance no better than a Pedlar," the grantees or their 
employee counting on the lower New Hampshire quit-rent as 
an inducement to buyers. This was obvious proof that the 
grantees were pure speculators, and that Wentworth had de- 
liberately schemed to estabHsh the nine points of the law ascribed 
to actual possession. The New York council, who, apparently 
in good faith, were playing into his hands, could not have under- 
stood the situation at all, for they proposed to save only those 
New York grants that extended more than twenty miles east of 
the Hudson and that had been made since the issue of the second 
Massachusetts charter ; whereas, Colden said, it was very clear 
that the second charter could not have extended beyond the river, 
though the first very possibly might. On the whole, he could not 
conceive on what principles of "Justice, Policy, or Publick 
Utility" the councillors had advised such a curtailment of the 
crown's future income. The council, however, were as heartily 
in favour of the vigorous prosecution of Lydius and other in- 
truders as Colden himself, and urged a fund for this purpose. 
Another difficulty in this connection was the fact that on a 
royal proclamation promising an allotment of land to reduced 
officers, both regulars and provincials, many had applied directly 
to England for their share. Here they counted on the influence 
of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, under whose special protection they 
considered themselves, and who had been greatly interested in 
establishing the army in the walks of peace. In fact, at one 
time it had been common talk among his brother officers 
stationed in America that he was going to set up a separate 



no Cadwallader Colden 

government in the Champlain region, although the only founda- 
tion for their beUef seems to have been that he was pushing its 
settlement and had started to build a large fort in the neighbour-^ 
hood. But the final cession of Canada put an end to this scheme, 
if he ever entertained it, and Colden was left to face the difficuhy 
of putting off demands for patents inspired by the proclamation 
until he could find whether they conflicted with grants made in 
response to demands of a like nature in England. Judging 
from the data he possessed, these grants clearly went as far 
west as Fort Edward, so he determined to make no more east 
of the lakes until he heard from home. But the English grantees 
wanted something more than this. For instance, PhiUp Skene, 
the major of a brigade, who had early obtained a generous por- 
tion and then gone to Martinique without giving it any atten- 
tion, now asked its confirmation by the council of New York, 
basing his claim on a copy of the petition he had sent to England. 
Colden told him that, according to the instructions, he could 
not grant so much to one man nor could he grant any tract 
bounded so vaguely and of such indefinite extent. He therefore 
advised him to apply for a grant of his improved lands after a 
previous survey, oflfering to faciHtate the proceedings and 
promising not knowingly to grant his lands to others.^ But 
Skene hung around town three months longer without comply- 
ing with this good advice and then went to England. Mean- 
while the council had considered his request for a grant on his 
petition, and finding that it included a tract abeady granted by 
Colden, as well as two others granted by Monckton on their 
own advice, and that all these tracts were granted on original 
surveys, had decided that his pretensions were not vahd. Still, 
as he said that some of his improved land was included in one 
of these grants, Colden urged the council to except them. But 
they refused unless the patentees were willing and unless they 

» Colden Letter Books, I, 225-226. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 91 

could have an equivalent cut from adjacent lands.* The truth 
was they were less impressed by Skene's account of his expenses 
than by his spasmodic interest in his possessions, though 
they offered to grant him twenty- five thousand acres in another 
place. Colden could but think this fair and told the govern- 
ment so, while he vigorously presented the case of the reduced 
officers whose grants must wait until the major's claims should 
be satisfactorily adjusted. 

In truth, if Colden had had no other complications to deal 
with, his connection with the land system would have distracted 
his administration to a sufficient extent. Despite his long-sus- 
tained determination that the Indians should be treated fairly 
so far as their rights to the soil went, and his constant watchful- 
ness to that end, it was a popular theory that the Indian out- 
break of 1763 sprang from the indignation of certain New York 
tribes at the perpetration of some land frauds; despite his 
many letters on the subject, he felt that the ministry did not 
understand the boundary question rightly, because Mr. Charles, 
the assembly agent on the spot, and Ukely, according to Colden, 
to push the claims of repubhcan governments, had the better 
audience, a consideration he did not fail to mention to the 
ministers themselves; and despite the best intentions in the 
world he found it impossible to please every one in deahng with 
the private claims he was constantly called upon to satisfy. 
In managing such affairs, nevertheless, he was extraordinarily 
impartial, and in all his letters it is impossible to find a suggestion 
of self-seeking or a hint even of a quid pro quo. Occasionally, 
he would display a mild sort of favouritism toward a friend, as 
when, for instance, he promised Sir Wilham Johnson, for a 
relative of his, that he would draw up a petition for a certain 
patent, and, as the land between Fort Edward and Lake George 
was now fully taken up, would date it a few days earlier in the 

» Ibid., 345. 



92 Cadwallader C olden 

month so that officers applying for it in the meantime could be 
refused. He suggested also that, pending the issue of the 
patent, the land be run round by a surveyor before a number 
of Indians, so that at the time of purchase the survey could be 
said to be made in their presence and with their consent. If, 
moreover, the council refused the grant, he promised to under- 
take to get it in England v^^ith the aid of the patentee's friends, 
a somewhat inconsistent proceeding, while he cheerfully prom- 
ised to undertake the journey made necessary by the new 
royal regulation, requiring the governor to purchase all lands 
from the Indians in person. Again, doubting the good humour 
of the council, he urged Johnson himself to obtain his Majesty's 
order for the lands he wished, thus being enabled to hold them 
in his own name and, probably, free of quit-rents for ten years 
like the grants of the reduced officers; while at another time 
he suggested that, as the king was resolved not to grant twenty 
thousand acres to one person, he might, if his tract was more, 
think of some other name for part of it, according to the method 
of some of the great men in England. But these very slight 
departures from the strict letter of the law in the cause of friend- 
ship are really but proofs of his clean administration, and, if 
he did not use as much ingenuity for the benefit of the casual 
patentee, he devoted himself with energy to his satisfaction. 

Yet it must have been irritating business. One day General 
Gage, now the commander-in-chief of the American army, 
would write proposing that in granting lands to the reduced 
officers Golden would do so on the proviso that the Grown 
Point and Ticonderoga garrisons have the perpetual privilege 
of cutting down what trees might be necessary to supply them 
with wood. But it practically would never be necessary to 
touch the trees on these tracts, when acres of woodland unfit 
for cultivation were likely to remain ungranted for generations 
on the borders of the lake. Then Skene, who, as has been said, 



A Colonial Surveyor General 93 

had received a grant of 25,000 acres from the council, came back 
from England with an order from the king for 20,000, obvi- 
ously having said nothing of the former grant. Again, Golden 
heard that Lieutenant Donald Campbell, son of that Laughlin 
Campbell who had indirectly given him much annoyance some 
years before, had a similar grant for 30,000 acres, though he 
had himself given him 10,000 acres before he left for England 
as well as the 2000 to which he was entitled as a reduced officer. 
Hence he concluded that he had received the additional grant 
under false pretenses, backed, probably, by the Ubels in Smith's 
history and by Smith himself, who, as Campbell's agent, had 
dragged the old-time differences into another generation.* 
Colden had taken far more pleasure in granting 47,500 acres 
to Campbell's deluded followers.^ Next, Governor Wentworth 
wrote asking for the release of four New Hampshire men who 
had been arrested by the sheriff of Albany. Considering that 
Colden had, on December 28, 1763, issued a proclamation 
requiring all judges, justices, and other civil officers within 
the hmits contested by New Hampshire, to continue to exer- 
cise jurisdiction to the banks of the Connecticut, and enjoining 
the high sheriff of Albany County to return the names of all 
holding under New Hampshire west of the river; considering 
that the arrested men had actually dispossessed three New 
York landholders ; and considering also that two of these had 
occupied the land more than thirty years, except when Indian 
incursions had forced a temporary absence, and that all three 
held under a grant of 1683, a date early enough in itself to 
answer New Hampshire's claim, this was an unreasonable re- 
quest. Colden, therefore, upheld by his council, refused it.^ Still 
again, came an order from England, directing that no more 
grants be made on the east side of the "waters,"* because, it 

* See "A Colonial Politician," p. 128. ^ Golden Letter Books, I, 358. 

^ Colden Letter Books, I, 346. * Lakes Champlain and George. 



94 Cadwallader Colden 

was suddenly feared, they might conflict with certain "conces- 
sions" made at the surrender of Canada to M. Michel Chartier 
de Lotbiniere. It was in this region that New York surveyors 
had spent a busy summer laying out lands for reduced officers 
whose patents would have soon passed the seals; it was here 
that they had discovered many indications that New Hampshire, 
having passed over a fair and unsettled territory, had been sur- 
veying just before them ; it was here that the most considerable 
pass between the king's old and new subjects lay; and Colden, 
with as much indignation as he ever permitted himself to show 
when writing to his superiors, asked whether it was better that 
French, rather than English, officers should block the way; 
while he "suspected" that the old soldiers would with justice 
"clamour loudly,"^ when they learned of their delayed satis- 
faction. 

It was about this time also that Colden was keenly hurt by 
a royal proclamation requiring all officers, on pain of removal 
or prosecution, to receive or demand for their services only 
those fees established by proper authority.^ This was followed 
by a demand for a record of the land grants, and, despite the 
extra expense and time, not to speak of the labour, involved, 
with no hope of adequate return, work on the latter was begun 
at once, while Colden ordered all administrative and judicial 
officers to report fully on the fees taken in their respective 
offices, giving their authority for the amount. When these 
had all come in he wrote to the Board of Trade inclosing them 
and freeing his mind of certain reflections.^ The request had 
been general, but significant emphasis had been laid on fees 
received by the governor for land, and it was with special inter- 
est he considered these and the fees of the surveyor general. 
When, as a young man, he had first become so unexpectedly 

^ Colden's Letter Books, I, 366. ^ Ihid., 343. 

' Ibid., 340-343 and 348; also 386-390. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 95 

interested in the subject, there had not been a single map or 
a single register of survey in the office. It was hence impossible 
to make a complete rent roll, and, as he had no salary but his 
fees, he could only try to clear up the situation for himself as 
he went along. Then came Burnet with his generous enthusi- 
asm, and Golden was soon happy with a salary given him for 
this purpose out of the quit-rents. He at once commenced 
with all the energy he could spare to make extracts of the grants 
in the secretary's office, but before he had gone farther than 
the year 1707, one of the big proprietors, scenting danger, had 
given the auditor general information of what was going on. 
The result was an instruction forbidding the governor to use 
the quit-rents for any purpose whatever. Since that time he 
as surveyor general had been entirely without salary, and his 
experience had been such that, as he had already said, he would 
gladly resign his fees for almost any settled amount. Again, 
as acting governor, he had taken the usual fees, or rather, half 
of them; but surely no one could consider 255. per thousand 
acres exorbitant when he remembered, first, the size of the aver- 
age patent, and, second, that this fee included the license to pur- 
chase, the warrant for the survey, the inspection of the return, 
the signing of the preliminary certificate, and the warrant to 
the attorney general to draw up letters patent. Besides, if the 
patent failed before actually coming to the seals, the governor 
got nothing at all. There remained another point to be an- 
swered, and, shortly afterward, without waiting for the secretary 
to get at them in order, Golden sent an abstract of the grants 
in his own administration, in order to refute the charge that 
his own family had come in for a lion's share.^ By this abstract, 
it appeared that out of thirty children and grandchildren only 
three had received grants from him, and these had been grants 
of land long since bought of the Indians. It was true that the 

' Colden Letter Books, I, 401. 



96 Cadwallader Colden 

grants of his administration were more in number than usual, 
but many were for lands bought and petitioned for in Delancey's 
day, the petitioners having been deterred from completing the 
necessary steps, first, by the bad temper of the Indians preced- 
ing the war and then by the war itself. Indeed, out of fifty- 
five grants but thirteen had originated in his administration, 
the twenty-four already issued to reduced officers and the 
great number in preparation for the same class of recipients 
being the result of proclamations with which he had really 
had nothing to do. 

But while he considered his own record clear in relation to 
the king's lands, he became daily more convinced that the 
abuses connected therewith were responsible for political and 
social conditions in the colony. The assembly had just created 
a stir by an address disputing, in a fashion that was spirited to 
say the least, the mere suggestion of the right of Parliament to 
tax the colonies, and Colden affirmed that their attitude was 
directly due to the great provincial landlords. Three of these 
still claimed about a million acres each, and several about two 
hundred thousand, yet all this land had been granted without 
previous survey, and their claims were based on patents contain- 
ing no mention of the quantity of land granted. Moreover, 
these patents paid a diminutive quit-rent ; the greatest part of 
them was still unsurveyed, and uncertainty kept smaller settlers 
from their neighbourhood. The proprietors of three of these 
patents were practically hereditary members of assembly. 
Their manors carried the privilege of a representative, while 
the influence of the remaining great patentees in their several 
counties sent them to the capital again and again. It was, of 
course, to their interest to have things remain as they were. 
They paid small quit-rents, or taxes, or none at all, while the small 
farmer, with his cultivated fields, was rated according to every 
" horse, cow, ox, hog," and every acre of land he possessed. But, 



A Colonial Surveyor General gy 

according to Colden, the taxation proposed by Great Britain 
would divide the burden far more easily, and the big holders, 
dreading this, had issued their propaganda of liberty and privi- 
lege to blind their poor dupes to their real interests.* For this 
reason, too, he saw in their opposition to appeals a guilty 
knowledge of the results, should some of the suits in which 
they and their lands were concerned be brought before king 
and council, where, instead of being the judges and lawyers 
themselves, or closely connected with those that were, they 
would be treated no better than any other freeman. For this 
reason, he sincerely believed that appeals were the sole security 
of the people against the lawyers, some of which profession 
were always on hand to buy up every disputed title. 

Interesting object lessons and convenient examples of this 
solidarity of the legal fraternity and their rich patrons were 
always ready. In 1764, for instance, a number of poor in- 
dustrious farmers, paying the required quit-rents on their 
lands, petitioned Colden for the king's help in the defence of 
their titles against the proprietors of Minnisink and Wawayanda. 
Colden, as was to be expected, took up their cause vigorously. 
It was their labour, he said, that had made the country a place 
to live in and of use to the province at large ; they had defended 
it against the savage; and now, when there was peace at last, 
they were in danger of losing their reward. He was therefore 
eager that their grasping neighbours be prosecuted by the at- 
torney general on the score that their patents were not valid, 
but he humbly submitted the propriety of his judgment to those 
who were "skilled in the law. "^ He was fighting more vigor- 
ously still the patent of Kayaderosseres ' in the Mohawk Valley. 
This patent was derived from a deed made by three Indians, 
but only two of them had executed it, and these were not parties 
to the deed ; nor was their tribe mentioned, although, according 

^ Colden Letter Books, I, 361-364. ' Ibid., I, 402-404. ^ Ibid., 392-394. 
. H 



98 Cadwallader Colden 

to Indian custom, the tribe alone owned, and could give or sell, 
land. But there were many other irregularities. The three 
Indians made good use of EngHsh miles when at that time, at 
any rate, they must have been ignorant of their length; the 
bounds were fixed in part by an unknown hill and river; and 
by the map in Colden 's possession it was evident that the land 
claimed could not by any construction be contained within 
the description of the land sold by the patentees, which formed 
but a small part of the whole. Besides, there were no settle- 
ments or improvements on it whatever, and although the grant 
was made unconditionally, Colden thought them a tacit con- 
dition of all grants. Still another factor in the situation was the 
feeHng of the Indians themselves, who refused to recognize the 
deed at all. Yet when Colden 's efforts at last brought an 
order from the Board of Trade directing him to get the patent 
annulled, and he had accordingly sent a message to the assem- 
bly, they refused his request. This he had expected ; but when 
they added a proposition that Johnson use his influence to 
reconcile the Indians, he was indignant. "This is another 
low insinuation that the dissatisfaction of the Indians arises 
from you," he wrote Sir WilUam. Johnson, however, felt 
under no obligation to follow the council's suggestion, and, 
truly alarmed at the reported excitement of the Indians over 
some settlements begun on the patent, they advised Colden to 
issue a writ of scire facias against the patentees. "You can 
teU the Indians," wrote Colden himself, "that both you and I 
have done all in our power and that justice will be done but 
tell them that even the King cannot do justice to himself or to 
his most beloved subjects except through the courts, which is 
a slow but effectual and certain method. If I was one of them, 
and I was adopted by the Canajoharies many years since, I 
could not do more than I have done for their rights but I never 
was able to do so much as now." 



A Colonial Surveyor General 99 

Colden was of the opinion that once in the courts the case 
would drag on for years. But he was to hear more of the many- 
syllabled patent before as many months. Late in 1764, a Mr. 
O'Brien, whose wife was a cousin of the Foxes and the life- 
long intimate of the celebrated Lady Sarah Lennox, came over 
to New York with Lady Susan, in order to find a suitable 
location for a grant of 100,000 acres given by the king to 
Lord Holland, the Earl of Ilchester, a Mr. Upton, and 
himself. Colden, according to directions which he had re- 
ceived, introduced them to the surveyor general, and all four 
agreed apparently that the best place for it was on the east of 
" the waters," provided the French concessions did not interfere 
and always excepting Kayaderosseres. If that patent should be 
vacated, Mr. O'Brien was told, it would be still better. For 
this reason, and because he was being "greatly tized" by the 
still waiting reduced officers, Colden earnestly begged some 
decision on Chartrier's claims. Mr. O'Brien, however, who 
had wanted his tract on the Mohawk until he had been told 
that was impossible, was really dissatisfied, and the next April 
Colden was greatly chagrined to receive a letter from the Earl 
of Hillsborough, Secretary of State,^ accusing him of bad faith 
in the matter, a charge against which he hastened to defend him- 
self. The cultivation of hemp, he declared, was the sole means 
by which such a large tract could be made to pay. He had there- 
fore advised the grant of the only land fit for this purpose still re- 
maining in the crown, with the exception of the new lands lately 
thrown open on the Connecticut. He had, besides, misunder- 
stood Mr. O'Brien, thinking he had asked for already settled 
lands on the Mohawk near Canajoharie, whereas, it now seemed, 
he had wanted the land that had been given by the Indians to 
Sir William Johnson, but never confirmed by the crown, a tract 
extending from the river opposite Canajoharie Castle to Canada 
* Colden Letter Books, II, 5-8. 



lOo Cadwallader C olden 

Kill. He had himself, he went on, advised Johnson to apply 
directly to the king for his grant, but the Indian outbreak had 
prevented such an application until the previous autumn, w^hen 
Golden had been particularly impressed with the necessity of a 
good map of the region, and he hoped to have one ready for the 
next packet. Such a map would, of course, illuminate the situa- 
tion considerably, all of which, it must be confessed, was rather 
a neat bit of special pleading on the part of the much-disturbed 
lieutenant-governor, who had nevertheless been reheved to find 
"that soothing kind appellation of fellow servant in the latter 
part" of Hillsborough's letter. 

But it was not pleading for himself. "Major Skene, who is 
lately return'd," he had written Johnson, "said the Board of 
Trade think it improper for you to take any Land by Gift from 
the Indians. Some who have obtain'd the King's Grants, in 
this Province have had their Eyes turn'd on your Patent, by 
some of your back friends," ^ and his "back friends" had so far 
been successful. The council also, to whom Golden had at 
last presented the case, had answered his expectations and 
refused confirmation of the gift because it was against the 
instructions to grant so much to any one man; because John- 
son had received no license to purchase the land ; and because 
several hcenses of the sort had been granted for the region, 
though they had never been used. As usual, Golden was per- 
sistent and wrote home again. His Majesty had overstepped 
the Hmits for others, he said, and why not for a servant of John- 
son's value, who had taken no advantage of the Indians, as he 
so easily might have done ; who held only such lands as he had 
bought from settlers, and to whom the Indians had given this 
tract as a debt of gratitude. It had, however, cost him 
1 200 pieces of eight besides the survey. But before this 
letter had gone, owing to delay in the arrival of this survey, 
* Colden Letter Books, I, 442. 



A Colonial Surveyor General loi 

which was to be used as evidence, Colden had learned that it 
was the very land that O'Brien wanted. The latter, however, 
had now gone with Lady Susan to visit Johnson himself, and 
Colden hoped much from their mutual explanations. "It will 
be impossible," he wrote Sir WilUam, "for you to please both 
the Indians and the Patentees of the great Tracts. I believe 
not one of the great Tracts were fairly purchased. Those of 
them which are settled & where the Indians have long desisted 
from making any Claim, are very different from the others 
where no settlements are made and where the Indians have at 
all times asserted their right. In these cases there is no other 
Rule but to do justice to the Indians, & to dispise Calumny 
which no good man could ever avoid." * 

Their lordships, it seems, also wanted some land between 
New York and Albany, but a possible vacancy in Claverack 
patent was the only one of which Colden knew. Here Van 
Rensselaer claimed 170,000 acres, on some of which several 
government officers had cast an envious eye four years 
before. Colden had allowed two or more of his children to 
join them, and the syndicate had petitioned the council for 
one thousand acres each. But the petition had been refused 
until Van Rensselaer's claim had been settled, and the same 
answer had been returned the preceding summer to certain 
reduced officers, tired of waiting for the Champlain grants, in 
whose behalf Colden had written the Board of Trade. These 
officers had suggested that Van Rensselaer's domain be cut 
down by 23,000 acres, and, according to the case drawn up 
by the attorney general, wrote Colden, this was only fair. 
For, while Van Rensselaer's patent gave the width of his pur- 
chase as twenty-four miles, it gave its Umits as the Hudson 
and Waneamiaquasick, the latter being a well-known "Monu- 
ment," or heap of stones, just nine and three-quarters miles 

* Ibid., II, 17-21. 



I02 Cadwallader C olden 

from the river. Yet, he added, the men drawing it up, deceived 
as to the distance by the wild character of the country, covered 
with woods and swamps, with hills to climb and rivers to ford, 
might have made their error in all good faith. But the fact 
remained that both distance and Umits could not stand, and it 
were better to retain the latter, as otherwise one long side of the 
patent would be left without bounds.^ 

One gratification the year had brought. The writs of in- 
trusion that Golden had ordered filed against persons taking 
up land in Minnisink patent had had excellent effect, some 
proprietors submitting without even coming to court and pray- 
ing regular grants at the usual quit-rents, "One instance of 
what may be done by vigorous measures," wrote Golden. 
Another thing he also succeeded in settUng satisfactorily. 
Having received an order from the king to grant 100,000 
acres to a Lieutenant James McDonald, he was checked 
in his natural procedure by the knowledge that John 
Morin Scott and OHver Delancey, both members of council, 
had filed a caveat against the grant and that two-thirds of the 
council were interested in some measure in the case. Accord- 
ingly he asked the attorney general whether the king's order 
in council was under the control of the council of New York 
or whether the governor could make the grant alone,^ Kempe, 
after an ambiguous answer and a second request, repUed in 
the affirmative; Golden, after reading the caveat carefully, 
decided the land was in the crown; and the deputy-secretary 
was ordered to prepare letters patent accordingly. 

Meanwhile the boundary question remained unchanged. 
Some time before Golden had sent Gharles some heads of argu- 
ments on the subject, thus giving him, as he said, an oppor- 
tunity of recommending himself to his Majesty's ministers as 
well as of serving New York ; and whether from this or other 

» Golden Letter Books, I, 377-378; II, 10, 11. ' Ibid., 24, 25. 



A Colonial Surveyor General 103 

reasons the king at length gave the subject the attention it 
deserved and, after several announcements of its coming, early 
in 1765 his order arrived, making the Connecticut River New- 
York's eastern boundary. The same winter the New York 
assembly, on the recommendation of the Board of Trade, passed 
an act for commissioners to settle the affair with Massachusetts, 
and sent their acts to the sister colony asking her compHance. 
But nothing had been heard from her by the next July, when 
her governor wrote complaining of trespasses made by Living- 
ston. "I cannot prevent any Man's taking what legal steps he 
thinks proper for securing his own Rights," wrote Colden, 
"and if illegal steps should be taken our Courts of justice are 
open for relief. However I shall do what is in my power to 
preserve the peace in that part of the country without any 
Byass in favour of Mr Livingston." But the events of the 
autumn of 1765 were of so exciting a nature that, for the moment 
at least, men's minds were distracted from personal concerns, 
save in so far as they were affected by what was going on around 
them. Land, which in New York might always have been 
spelled with a capital letter, had lost its fascination, and by the 
time effigies had ceased to swing from gibbets and the shouting 
of mobs to be a famihar sound, Colden was settled at his 
Flushing country-seat, and affairs of state were being managed 
by another imported Englishman. As usual, he wanted to 
make the best of a probably brief period of power, and when 
certain settlers in the contested territory, now declared on 
royal authority to be New York, apphed according to Colden 's 
invitation for free confirmation of the grants they had received 
from the governor of New Hampshire, he refused them without 
the usual fees. These were paid by one grantee at least, but 
many others appealed to the king, while there were still others 
who objected to being New York men at any price, and Colden 
had scarcely become estabUshed again in the governor's chair. 



I04 Cadwallader Colden 

four years later, when a number of these, who had settled in 
Albany County between "the hight of Land usually called the 
Green Mountain "and the Hudson, and who had chosen magis- 
trates, or " selectmen," in true New England fashion, offered 
armed resistance to the partition of the tract of land called Wal- 
lomscack and granted in 1739. The commissioners of the New 
York legislature produced their powers, the civil authorities 
threatened a posse, but the rioters said they could outnumber 
the posse and would defend their claims to the last drop of their 
blood. "The event might have been fatal," wrote Colden to 
the governor of New Hampshire, "had not the Commissioners 
apprehensive for the safety of their Persons decUned the further 
execution of their office." " Proper measures are directed (by 
this government) to bring the offenders to Punishment," he 
added, " (and) In your Excellency's power it may be to convince 
these rash People of their Delusion, by making it pubhc that 
they cannot expect your Countenance or Protection." Indi- 
rectly the Revolution had begun, and from this year 1 769 until 
their feat at Ticonderoga, the "Green Mountain boys" gave 
Colden and, for a time, Tryon almost continual anxiety. 

Nor were the old difficulties lessened. As late as June, 1774, 
Colden was writing to Dartmouth, then Secretary of State, con- 
cerning Colonel Skene's claims and quit-rents; at the same 
time he was worrying over certain new instructions which 
seemed to him calculated to cut out those still unsettled reduced 
officers; while even in 1775, though Johnson was dead, the 
Indians were still complaining through his son of the same 
tormentors and the same ill-treatment. But the end had come 
at last, confirming Colden's warnings and rendering all his 
plans and accomplishments of no account. The life-work of 
the administrators of an overthrown government is seldom a 
subject for enthusiasm and, however well done, must in the 
nature of the case be considered unsuccessful. No country 



« A Colonial Surveyor General 105 

to-day points with pride at Golden as the first man to make a 
science of the care of its lands, yet the country whose begin- 
nings he so heartily condemned might still learn something 
from this phase of the career of one who, without just accusation 
of hypocrisy, brought an atmosphere of high-mindedness into 
the execution of an office where graft was prevalent and who, 
in his treatment of a conquered race, left an example that has 
found few, if any, followers in high places. 



A COLONIAL POLITICIAN 



As every student of our early history knows, in those English 
colonies known as the "Royal Provinces," the officials next in 
rank to the governor were the members of his council. Their 
influence, indeed, might be greater than his own. It is true he 
had power to suspend them from the exercise of their functions, 
but his suspension had to be confirmed at home, and so short 
was his average stay that his successor would as Hkely as not be 
urging the restoration of the suspended councillor before the 
easy-going ministry had considered his own action. But un- 
less he made himself extremely disagreeable, a councillor was 
usually a councillor for Ufe. As such, he was at once a member 
of the upper house of the legislature and of the governor's privy 
council. As legislator, he could, with his fellows, originate, 
amend, and defeat legislation, while the advice and consent of 
the councillors were necessary to the greater part of the execu- 
tive functions, — the issuing of proclamations, the granting of 
lands, the regulating of the army, the laying of embargoes, the 
ordering of Indian affairs. Moreover, with the governor, they 
constituted the highest court in the colony to which in cases 
of importance appeals were permitted from the other courts. 

In return for this actual power and the attendant social dis- 
tinction, they were supposed in an especial manner to be the 
guardians of the strength and influence of the crown. And as 
a matter of fact, though their loyalty was frequently as question- 

io6 



A Colonial Politician 



107 



able as that of their brothers of the popular branch of the legis- 
lature, they might in general be depended on to resist encroach- 
ments on the prerogative, because it was to their own interest to 
do so. Occasionally, however, a councillor would take his obU- 
gations seriously, and of these no more notable example can 
be cited than the Scotch physician, Cadwallader Golden. 

A recent historian of the Scotch-Irish in America has pointed 
out that they were not good Tory material, and that almost to 
a man they cast in their fortunes with the rebellious colonists. 
To this rule Golden is an exception. Of Scotch-Irish stock, 
born in Ireland and educated in Scotland, the son and the son- 
in-law of Scotch ministers, no firmer believer in the divine 
authority of kings ever held office. The development of his 
aggressive conservatism is somewhat obscure. Goming to 
America at twenty-two, he had seen nothing of poHtical Hfe in 
his own country; and it was only on a visit home that he shared 
in the excitement of 1715, — '^the '15" of the Scotchman, — and 
raised a body of volunteers to check the march of the Pretender 
through the Lowlands. Moreover, though in Philadelphia 
where he had first settled, he had been in the official set and 
intimate with the governor, his interest in colonial politics had 
been mainly sympathetic, until, in 1718, he moved to the little 
city at the mouth of the Hudson, still very Dutch, despite fifty 
years of English rule. 

The move had been undertaken in response to the offer by 
the Scotch governor of New York of the position of master in 
chancery with the reversion of the office of surveyor general. 
But Golden had scarcely become familiar with his new environ- 
ment when his patron sailed, leaving the administration in the 
hands of an influential opponent, Philip Schuyler, the president 
of the council. And this change in turn had scarcely been ac- 
compHshed when the acting surveyor general died and Schuy- 
ler promptly turned over the office to one of his own party. 



io8 Cadwallader C olden 

However, Governor Hunter's influence was still paramount, and 
in a surprisingly short time Schuyler's appointment was quashed 
and the promise to Golden fulfilled. 

But Golden neither forgave nor forgot. Years after Schuy- 
ler's death he transmitted to his son, in the hope that it might 
meet the eye of the future historian, a description of his old 
enemy full of unalloyed bitterness, while at the time he flung 
himself into an arraignment of Schuyler's administration of 
the Land Office that helped largely to bring about his sus- 
pension from the council. When, moreover, his influence had 
been strengthened by the arrival of a new and friendly governor 
and by his own appointment to the council, he suddenly dis- 
closed the political convictions which long experience never 
mellowed nor wide knowledge ever broadened. 

He had found that the crown was being cheated right and left 
by the landed proprietors, and he proposed that such cheating 
should cease. This was well. But he made the fatal mistake 
of backing his proposition by political considerations. The 
question was bound to be brought into politics some day, but to 
bring poUtics into the question was a different matter. And 
that is exactly what Golden did. It was certainly reasonable 
enough that the crown should collect its debts, but Golden 
thought fit to add that it was also necessary, if it wished to 
preserve the independence of its officials and the dependence 
of its subjects. Golonial officialdom, he wrote home, must be 
supported independently of the people, or colonial officialdom, 
in its present form, at least, might have to fight for its 
existence. 

It would have been lucky for Golden, and for others too, if 
he had realized with Walpole that "to reconcile is perhaps a 
more amiable virtue in a patriot than to reform." ^ A great 

* Horace Walpole's " Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third," 
n, p. 55- 



A Colonial Politician 109 

opportunity for such peacemaking was to be his. For fifty 
years he was to be in touch with both members of the colonial 
equation, a colonist among other colonists and an official of the 
crown, but out of the mass of documents signed by his name or 
written by him for the signature of another, it is impossible to 
see any sign that the notion of compromise, the idea that "it is 
the kindest way of ruUng men to govern them as they will be 
governed, not as they ought to be," ^ ever entered his mind. An 
imperial government, so perfectly organized and so firmly ad- 
ministered that its most distant subjects should have a fixed 
place and be made to keep it, was his ideal, and toward this 
he sought to guide his careless superiors. Accordingly, his 
earliest memorials to the home government hinted at the exist- 
ence in New York of a community of such doubtful loyalty that 
had the ministry been less sleepy they would have been alarmed. 
As it was, they were temporarily impressed, and alarming reports 
of their possible action were sent over from London. Theirs 
was but a passing concern, however, and the lasting results of 
Golden 's appeal were undesirable from all points of view. The 
great landlords were fixed in the ranks of that shifting group 
which stood for the future Whig party ; Golden himself became 
exceedingly unpopular and possessed of an enduring reputation 
for tale- bearing and narrowness ; and the idea of an irrepressible 
conflict between an unrestrained assembly and a sovereign gov- 
ernment was once more emphasized suggestively. 

This fixing of his reputation was particularly unfortunate, 
because he was at that very time sharing in the prosecution of a 
scheme of far-reaching importance, the success of which de- 
pended largely on the influence and prestige of its supporters. 
The friendly governor who had succeeded his first patron was 
William Burnet, a son of the historian Bishop, and a man of 
progressive ideas, who even before his arrival in the colony had 

1 Ihii. 



no Cadwallader C olden 

formed a plan by which he was certain that with a minimum of 
efifort a mortal blow could be struck at New France. It often 
seemed, indeed, that the power of the French in North America 
had no reasonable basis. An unfriendly soil had not invited 
men seeking their fortunes, and the troops of exiles who had 
fled from the mother country did not find themselves still her 
sons as did those from England. So year by year the number 
and population of her settlements remained approximately the 
same, while the Englishmen to the south founded new villages 
and saw the old develop into prosperous towns. But she had 
her own advantages: she was governed by one tiny group of 
officials in the colonial capital; her forces could be mobiUzed 
quickly for a given purpose ; and her people — soldiers, priests, 
and peasants — each knew in their own way that the key to the 
situation was in their relations with the Indian tribes surrounding 
them. From the beginning, force, treachery, the seductions of 
trade, and the warnings of religion had been applied to the 
problem of their conquest, and by the end of the seventeenth 
century a chain of forts and trading-posts connected the St. 
Lawrence with the Mississippi, and a hold had been gained on 
the Indians of the West that endured even after the French had 
been driven from Canada. 

The EngUsh, on the other hand, had inherited Indian rela- 
tions from the Dutch which at first made counteraction impos- 
sible. For they had succeeded to the friendship of the Iroquois, 
who, having been long-standing enemies of the Algonquins, the 
original allies of the French, had included the French and all 
their connections in their hostility and constituted a barrier 
beyond which the EngUsh could not go. James II, indeed, had 
effected a temporary reconciliation, but his motives were reli- 
gious, not political, and, naturally enough, it was the Catholic 
French who profited thereby. Certain Mohawks and a number 
of River Indians were won over to Catholicism and went to live 



A Colonial Politician 



III 



near Montreal,* and then an English trading expedition organ- 
ized in all good faith was attacked so treacherously that the 
peace was declared broken.^ Indeed, the English colonists 
themselves were not yet particularly eager to increase their 
trade. They were agriculturists first and traders next, and their 
own Indians consumed their surplus imports. This condition 
was somewhat changed, however, when in the war called Queen 
Anne's a treaty was negotiated by which the neutrality of the 
Indians on both sides was secured. Yet again it was the French 
who were the gainers as far as Indian relations went. For 
when intercourse with the Enghsh was forbidden, the praying 
Indians, in other words, the converted Mohawks, were easily 
induced to run the risk of fetching from Albany goods for the 
Indian trade which it was impossible to procure as cheap else- 
where. And this arrangement proved so profitable to New 
York merchant and French trader ahke, that after the war was 
over, it was continued and the Indians with their long crucifixes 
became a feature of the frontier settlement. 

Now it was by a blow at this very trade that Burnet proposed to 
accompUsh his object. Greater facility in producing the goods 
desired, a shorter and less difficult voyage, and fighter trade 
restrictions made it seem probable to him that the EngUsh trader 
could so undersell the French as to put him out of competition, 
and in the long run drive his countrymen out of their North 
American possessions. This could only be done, however, if 
the French were kept from obtaining English goods imported by 
Enghsh colonists. And, fortunately, the assembly of New York, 
the only colony which could hope to rival the French in the Ind- 
ian trade, passed at once on Burnet's arrival two acts looking 
to this end. Of these, one prohibited trade with the French 
under heavy penalties, with the purpose of forcing the merchants 

* This defection occurred about 1671. 

2 Smith's "History of New York" (1829), Vol. I, p. 69. 



112 Cadwallader Colden 

to send men to the West; the other levied an import duty in 
order to estabHsh a fund for the building of forts through the 
Indian country.^ 

But this was only the beginning. Opposition both without 
and within was to be met; the Indians were to be interested; 
the people were to be shown how to expand their trade. Burnet 
set about his work with enthusiastic zeal. Yet he soon per- 
ceived that he could not fight successfully alone, and even as he 
felt the necessity of a confidential adviser, of some one of sense 
and ability, in active sympathy with his aims, found his require- 
ments completely met by the surveryor general. In one of his 
first letters home he suggested him as a desirable councillor, 
proposing for a second vacancy in the board James Alexander, 
another Scotchman and Colden 's intimate friend. These nomi- 
nations were confirmed in 1722, and thereafter Colden and, to 
a lesser degree, Alexander had much to do with the development 
of the policy of the New York government. 

This policy was energetic and progressive. A small trading 
house was built in the wilderness on the southern shore of Lake 
Ontario where the city of Oswego now stands, and a picked 
company of seven young men were sent to take it in change. 
Moreover, when, in the summer of 1722 and again in the autumn 
of the next year, Burnet, accompanied by Colden and other 
councillors, went to Albany for the periodic renewal of the alli- 
ance with the Iroquois, he gave the Indians an alluring account 
of the advantages of the post and urged them in turn to spread 
the news. Results followed unexpectedly soon. Canoes full 
of strange Indians became no uncommon sight at Oswego, and 
many even ventured as far as Albany. The praying Indians 
were seen no more, and the frontier trader began to send, or go 
himself, to the West. But it was harder work, and he did not 

^ " Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly" of the 
Province of New York, I, p. 149. 



A Colonial Politician 113 

like it. Even the supporters of the change admitted that it 
would probably be some time before the volume of the new trade 
with the "far Indians" equalled the old trade with Canada. 
And, finally, it had been necessary to lower the price of Indian 
goods by way of advertisement and inducement. With a deaf 
ear to Burnet's magnificent possibilities and an eye to their own 
balance sheets, the merchants of New York and England deter- 
mined that the acts must go. In the summer of 1724 they ob- 
tained the repeal of the Import Act, though it had the approval 
of the Board of Trade, and then proceeded to attack the trade 
acts. 

Fortunately enough, it happened that the year before, Colden, 
at Burnet's request, had prepared for the use of the ministry 
two papers, one on the trade, the other on the climate of New 
York.' The first was a fair-minded attempt to show Great 
Britain that restrictive methods with her colonies would be bad 
poUcy, as what was to their interest was to her own, and, what- 
ever his readers thought of his argument, it conveyed, at any 
rate, some much-needed information. For, when the dealers 
and manufacturers of London and Bristol made their plea, the 
board was sufficiently enlightened to listen with incredulity. 
Suspending judgment, they referred it to the governor of New 
York, who referred it to his council, who, finally, reported, with 
the request that their report, the proceedings in England lead- 
ing thereto, Dr. Colden 's map of the country between New York 
City and Montreal, and his pamphlet on the fur trade,' be 
printed for distribution. The merchants, it seemed, had claimed 
that to wrest the Western trade from the French would not be 
to give it to the English, as even the Five Nations lived near 

* New York Colonial Documents, V. 

' "A Memorial concerning the Fur Trade of the Province of New York 
presented to His Excellency William Burnet, Esquire, Captain Generall & Gov- 
ernor &c By Cadwallader Colden, Surveyor General of said Province. No. 
vember loth, 1724." 
I 



114 Cadwallader C olden 

Montreal, separated from the English settlements by leagues 
of wilderness, peopled by French Indians who could be trusted 
to prevent an English invasion. Therefore, what would be a 
merely passing hindrance to the French, who would soon find 
substitutes for English specialities, would prove a permanent 
loss to England. To these claims the council report, the work 
of Golden and Alexander, presented a detailed denial. It offered 
proofs that the policy had already passed its experimental stage ; 
it told of the promise of its future ; but it frankly admitted that 
it was to the future it looked for its warrant and that there would 
probably be such temporary loss as is often the consequence 
of readjustment. 

Had the report stopped there it would have been a model con- 
troversial document, and the situation would at least have been 
made no worse. But instead, it added the gratuitous informa- 
tion that the New York merchants engaged in the Canada trade 
were responsible for the statement of their English colleagues, 
who had been made to believe them true. Unfortunately, the 
personal allusion is too characteristic of Colden's state papers 
to leave one in doubt as to its authorship. He could for a time 
discuss a measure or a policy to which he was opposed with 
dignity and restraint. But if he had a personal grievance against 
the champion of such measure or policy, and he almost always 
had, sooner or later his feelings swept away his common sense 
and he damaged his position by personal attack. In this case, 
it is true, no names were given, but they were easily sup- 
plied, and the resultant bad feeling was undiminished by the 
omission. 

The merchants found it necessary, however, to change their 
reasoning. The Board of Trade, though they made a great fuss 
about the unauthorized use of their minutes, were visibly im- 
pressed both by the reports and the pamphlet, and they de- 
manded an explanation. Their petitioners confessed that they 



A Colonial Politician ue 

had described incorrectly the location of the Five Nations, but 
with easy effrontery they substituted another argument. The 
old order, they declared, had not been proved bad nor the new 
one better. No bushlooper, no Albany Dutchman, could deal 
with the Indians like the skilful coureur du hois, or, rather, they 
could not deal with them at all. So the bulk of the Indian trade 
of the last months had consisted of secret exchanges with these 
French trappers, and there had even been open deahngs where 
men had thought it to their advantage to pay the penahy. But 
could these burdensome restrictions be removed, Albany would 
become the principal, if not the only, market for Indian goods, 
owing to the unpopularity of the Canada company, who held a 
monopoly of the Canadian fur trade, with headquarters at Mon- 
treal. As it was, the English were throwing prosperity into 
their hands.^ Proofs and affidavits were offered, and again the 
board deliberated. 

The result was the approval of the new measures. Milder 
methods of execution were requested, however, but the governor 
and his advisers fek that the acts, as they stood, must be executed 
strictly or not at all. Even as it was, the people shielded one 
another and smuggling was continuous. Therefore, instead of 
reducing the penalties, the prohibition was removed and a duty 
was levied on all goods for the Indian trade, the rate being 
doubled when such goods were sold to the French. Under the 
circumstances it was beheved that this would prove an even 
more effectual prohibition of the trade with Canada than had 
been the case with the earlier legislation. But the French 
had no intention of standing still, and about this time they 
erected below the falls of Niagara, on land for which Burnet had 
obtained a deed of trust from the Five Nations, a bastioned 
fort, under their usual pretence of fortifying a trading post. 

» Proceedings of the Board of Trade on the Indian Trade Acts, May 5, 
1725. New York Colonial Documents, V. See also Smith, I, 213-230. 



ii6 Cadwallader C olden 

Though they claimed the permission of the Iroquois, their right 
to build was warmly protested by New York, and Burnet begged 
that its demolition be demanded. But both crowns wanted 
peace, and the Court of St. James contented itself with offering 
a formal protest to the Court of Versailles, which considerate 
inaction the Court of Versailles reciprocated when, a year later, 
the first English fort on the Great Lakes was put up at Oswego 
and garrisoned with twenty men and a sergeant. 

This, the great achievement of Burnet's administration, and 
accomplished partly by advances from his own purse, was also 
the last. With what seems amazing perversity, the governor 
and his chief adviser had reached a depth of unpopularity from 
which ascent was impossible, and their brilliant and single- 
minded partnership was about to be dissolved amidst popular 
disapproval. To see two officials of statesmanlike qualities 
working together for the general good, as Burnet and Colden 
had worked, was well-nigh unprecedented in that place and 
time, and if they accomplished much, they should have accom- 
plished far more. But a series of mutual and individual 
blunders had created hostilities that at length would have killed 
any measure they might have proposed. Colden 's first reports 
as surveyor general, charging, as has been said, the great land- 
owners with fraud and the people with disaffection, if not dis- 
loyalty ; the famous council report in which he slurred the mer- 
chants ; his share in effecting the retirement from the council of 
two prominent Dutchmen, PhiHp Schuyler and Adolph PhiHpse, 
on charges connected with their administration of the land office ; 
and his attack on George Clarke, one of the largest landowners 
and the shrewdest poUtician in the province, had gained him 
enemies in abundance. On the other hand, in a church quarrel 
brought before Burnet as chancellor, he had decided against 
the more influential division of the congregation, Colden hap- 
pening to be the master in chancery who issued the decree ; while 



A Colonial Politician 117 

on another occasion, he had been unwise enough to refuse to 
qualify Stephen Delancey as a member of assembly on the 
ground that his citizenship seemed doubtful. Now Delancey 
had been a member of the assembly before, and had taken out 
his papers as had many other good citizens of New York in the year 
1725. He was besides one of the most influential men in the 
community and perhaps the most popular, A landed proprietor, 
a merchant who had made his fortune in the Canada trade ; a 
Huguenot emigrant who had been a founder and supporter 
of the Uttle French church, but who never entered its door after 
the chancery decision; common prudence should have warned 
the governor to let the evidence of his former membership suffice. 
But he persisted in his refusal, until he should consult legal 
authority, and Delancey left the house unqualified. Golden, 
who had been away for some time, happened to arrive in town 
that very night, and early the next morning the news was brought 
to him. The assembly was at white heat. Its own peculiar 
privilege, the right to judge of the qualifications of its members, 
had been impeached. There was general alarm also. The 
rights and property of all foreigners seemed in danger. Golden 
flew to Burnet, pointed out the absurdity of making an issue of 
a point where he was really in the wrong, and stood over him 
until he had composed a letter to the speaker sufficiently con- 
ciUatory to satisfy himself. But, though the governor apolo- 
gized for his refusal and said it had been due simply to a desire 
to be exact, neither Delancey nor his family ever forgot. 

The usual clash between official opinion and popular opinion 
on the jurisdiction of the chancery court and the control of the 
colony income added still more to the interest of the situation. 
Indeed, it had become so lively that Burnet took pains to drop 
a hint in one of his letters home that any little unpleasantness 
that might have been observed between himself and his legis- 
lature could be set down to his efiforts to get the back pay due 



ii8 Cadwallader C olden 

the auditor general Horace Walpole. This he had done on order 
and with almost complete success. Mr. Walpole's deputy, 
he added, would confirm this statement/ But Mr. Walpole's 
deputy was George Clarke, and George Clarke owed little either 
to Burnet or Colden. Accordingly, he took pains on his part to 
tell Mr. Walpole that the opposition to his pay had all come 
from the government side, that the governor was losing ground 
because of personal difficulties with new members, and that he 
was losing his own friends by the system of threats and cajolery 
with which he was trying to force their compHance with his 
schemes.^ Fortunately, perhaps, for all concerned, at this point 
George I died, and the administrative reorganization usual at 
such a time took place. Every one was changing places with 
some one else. And when Burnet was transferred to Boston 
without formal criticism of his poUcy, it was impossible to say 
that his removal had any significance which was unfavourable to 
himself. Indeed, his friends always maintained that his appoint- 
ment to the equally important post of Massachusetts Bay, just 
when his position at New York was becoming unendurable, 
was merely a coincidence. 

Taking advantage of the change, Colden decided on a tem- 
porary withdrawal from poUtics, and when, in the spring of 1728, 
Burnet left for Boston, Colden's house in town was for rent, and 
he had been settled for some months in his new manor-house in 
Ulster County. His family in Scotland were delighted at this 
renunciation of "court amusements" for the simple pleasures 
of the country, and congratulated him on his new distaste for 
pubUc affairs. And a love of Hfe in the open and a desire to 
bring his children up away from the distractions of that city 
of eight thousand inhabitants were partly responsible for the 
move. But it must be confessed that with Burnet away and the 

» N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 768. 2 N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 764. 



A Colonial Politician 119 

opposition triumphant, his share in court amusements and public 
affairs would have been inconsiderable. It was possible, of 
course, that John Montgomerie, the new governor, might change 
matters. So Golden went to town to see him take the oaths of 
office and observe the situation. But as the council were march- 
ing with their future chief from the City Hall in Wall Street to 
the Fort below Whitehall, Golden heard that simple-minded gen- 
tleman ingenuously say to George Glarke that he would follow 
his advice in everything. Naturally enough. Golden returned 
to his farming. But he never for a moment lost his interest in 
the drama of colonial pohtics. Occasional visits to town and 
his correspondence kept him in close touch with its development. 
Lewis Morris, the younger, sent him amusing but prejudiced 
sketches of men and affairs ; Archibald Kennedy, the collector 
and councillor, struggled through more honest and substantial 
accounts, in a style which Golden was ungrateful enough to 
criticise as too "laconic" to satisfy one of his capacity; and the 
faithful Alexander supplied the deficiencies of both. Through 
him, moreover, Golden was enabled to retain some influence on 
events. 

About the year 1729 William Bradford began to add to the 
court gossip and shipping news, which composed his Gazette, 
certain English political satires which, with slight changes and 
omissions, or even in their original form, were so applicable to 
current events in the colony that they proved once more his- 
tory's habit of repetition. Stupid as they sometimes were, the 
idea was good, and Alexander, with Golden's assistance, began 
to contribute to the press on similar lines from the opposite 
pohtical standpoint. At the same time Golden, under Alex- 
ander's management, wrote for pubHcation a series of letters 
addressed to Apse, by which was meant Adolph Phihpse, the 
suspended councillor and the leading antagonist of the chancery 
court. Already, in the summer after his removal, on one of his 



120 Cadwallader Colden 

visits to town, he had joined with other councillors in an attempt 
at once to champion that court and vindicate such champion- 
ship, and these letters were intended to keep the issue before 
the colony. Alexander was only too glad of this chance to work 
with his friend once more. Yet he was a discriminating ad- 
mirer, and when Colden 's intense partisanship seemed excessive 
did not hesitate to urge less rhetoric and more reserve.* 

Meanwhile, Montgomerie, with no troublesome plans or 
theories of his own, and only anxious to get the largest salary 
obtainable with as Httle friction as possible, had early formed 
an alliance with the Delanceys. These were then in control of 
what, for want of a name, may be called the opposition. Lo- 
cally known at various times as the popular party or the country 
party, it stood for no fixed principles and was committed to no 
definite line of conduct until later it developed into the Whig 
party of pre-revolutionary times. Though it was the resort, 
for one reason or another, of men "agin the government," who 
perhaps once had been in the ranks of the courtiers, or might 
the next day be found there, it was usually led by demagogues, 
bent only on getting all the power they could. Now and then, 
however, there were issues which brought men of real patriotism 
to the front, men who, though loyal to the crown, wished to curb 
its representatives. These found themselves leaders of the 
opposition, and long after the crisis was over and they had 
dropped out of politics, their name and cause would lend pres- 
tige to their quondam associates. The real leaders of the oppo- 
sition, in distinction to these occasional pilots, had long been 
pitted against the administration in the struggle for the control 
of the colonial purse. In this poHcy they had already succeeded 
in part; that is, they could hold the revenue and keep it from 
others, but the money itself could not be spent save by warrant 
of the governor and council. And up to this time these officials 

' Colden Correspondence, 1711-1737. 



A Colonial Politician 121 

had resisted all attempts to ignore them in regulating expen- 
diture. Now, however, the assembly, having cut the salary of 
the chief justice, Lewis Morris, saw an opportunity of forcing 
the council tacitly to acknowledge that their will was law, what- 
ever the royal instructions might say. The governor was hand 
in glove with their leader ; George Clarke and Francis Harison 
might be depended on to oppose any one who had been a friend 
to Burnet ; and three or four other councillors were too stupid 
to care which way they voted. Moreover, old Delancey's oldest 
son, a Cambridge graduate, had just been made a member of 
the board on his return from the university ; Colden was seldom 
in town ; Kennedy was pliable ; and Alexander and young Mor- 
ris could do little by themselves. The assembly were right. 
Montgomerie long shirked the issue and sought advice from 
Alexander and even Colden ; Alexander maintained a dignified 
opposition, and young Morris stormed and harangued, injuring 
his father's cause more than he furthered it. But, finally, war- 
rants were signed by the governor and council to which their 
consent had not been asked. The opposition could felicitate 
themselves. Another governor might indeed demand the an- 
cient privilege, but a precedent had been estabUshed sure to 
make his claim less certain of satisfaction. Colden could only 
look grimly on and wonder why it was no one's business to put 
a stop to such innovations before it was too late.* 

About this time, however, he was brought into closer con- 
nection with provincial life through his relations with the 
patentees of that famous strip of land known as "the oblong." 
Of this he was part owner and surveyor, acting besides as 
general adviser to the patentees in their long Utigation with 
rivals in England. Indeed, his advice was felt to be so indis- 
pensable that even George Clarke went so far as to say that he 

' Colden Correspondence; Governor Montgomerie to the Lords of Trade, 
June 30, 1729. N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 877. 



122 Cadwallader C olden 

would have nothing to do with the scheme unless Golden was 
equally concerned. When, moreover, three years after his 
arrival, Montgomerie died and was succeeded by Colonel Will- 
iam Cosby, Colden's office enjoyed a distinct increase in im- 
portance. Vain and ignorant, a bully and a snob, yet good- 
natured enough when he had his own way, Governor Cosby, 
as well as my lady, his wife, was determined to make their Ameri- 
can sojourn pay well, and to put forth as Httle effort as possible 
in attaining this object. The crown lands of the province were 
the means by which the happy result was to be achieved, and a 
knowing friend at home had advised the governor to make 
Colden's friendship his first object, for Golden could guide his 
general policy as well as further his personal ambition.^ But 
Clarke, plausible and insinuating, was on hand to welcome the 
unsuspecting adventurer, and Golden was sixty miles away. 
Naturally enough, Clarke once more became confidential ad- 
viser to the governor, and soon had him almost as completely 
in his power as Montgomerie had been. Not quite, however. 
Golden knew more about the vacant lands than Clarke or any 
one else. So Mrs. Golden and her pretty young daughter 
Betty were made much of at the Fort, when they came down on 
a visit, and Golden was begged to come down himself. This 
he had little desire to do. He did not trust the governor ; he 
felt uncertain about his position ; and he wanted to feel, if the 
worst happened, that he had at least been independent. Hence, 
while party feeling was higher than it had been for years ; while 
Bradford's rival, Zenger, lashed the administration with wit and 
satire until the Gazette itself was also forced to become inter- 
esting; while the imprisonment of the intrepid journalist gave 
rise to a fierce debate on the right to criticise one's betters; 
while the press was confirmed in this right ; while the court 
party and the country party took to themselves taverns and 
* Alured Popple to Colden, November i, 1734. 



A Colonial Politician 123 

formed clubs ; while some of the plain people were beguiled by 
invitations to Fort gayeties and others looked on with Homeric 
laughter ; while the chief justice fell and American affairs actu- 
ally became an object of interest in London, where Cosby's 
niisdeeds were talked of in the coffee houses, Golden mastered 
his few law books, looked after his improvements, dreamed over 
his theories, and with quadrant and compass opened up new 
regions and put in order old ones/ 

He was, to be sure, a councillor still, and there was consider- 
able criticism of absentee officials, aimed at no one else but 
himself. His friends, also, seemed to think that if he would only 
come down, he could do something. Just what, it is difficult to 
say. The minority's force had been diminished by the con- 
firmed suspension of Lewis Morris, and when Golden did 
come down, he could do little more than speak his mind. This 
he never hesitated to do. For instance, when Gosby one day 
in council presented Delancey with a commission as chief jus- 
tice, vice Lewis Morris, suspended, and Delancey according to 
custom left the room, Golden asked whether he was to under- 
stand that the advice of the council was being asked, as usual 
in such cases. If it was, he said, he wished to be put on record 
as opposed to the commission, as he did not think it for the good 
of his Majesty's service. Gosby replied that he had not the 
slightest intention of consulting the council on the subject, and 
the matter dropped. Moreover, Golden's friends had ex- 
changed principles with the majority. Gosby had succeeded 
to Montgomerie's cabinet, but those advocates of popular rights 
soon found that they had a different man from Montgomerie 
with whom to deal. Easily influenced where abstract princi- 
ples were in question, he was adamant where his own personal 

* Authorities for Cosby's Administration : Colden Correspondence, Bradford's 
Gazette, Zenger's Journal, N. Y. Col. Docs., V and VI; Council and Assembly 
records. 



124 Cadwallader C olden 

desires were involved. And as it happened that his personal 
desires of the moment required the machinery of prerogative 
for their reaHzation, his advisers not too unwiUingly became the 
supporters of much they had lately opposed. On the other 
hand, such obedient and conservative defenders of constitu- 
tional kingship as James Alexander and Wilham Smith were 
forced into an attempt to prevent the estabhshment of a petty 
despotism. The attempt was in some respects successful, and 
meanwhile Smith and Alexander, no less than the Morrises, 
whose motives were perhaps more mixed, taxed Cosby's vo- 
cabulary to the utmost. In his tempestuous letters home they 
figured as liars, incendiaries, levellers, demagogues of the vilest 
description, and, indeed, delicacy at times forbade their adequate 
description. 

But, however little Colden might love Cosby and his ways, his 
instincts and training forbade his appearance as a popular 
champion. At the same time, his friends were so deeply con- 
cerned that, had he been staying in town, he could scarcely have 
avoided taking a hand in the game. As it was, he kept friends 
on both sides. Indeed, even in the last administration, when 
Alexander had been at Kingston, but a few miles from Coldeng- 
ham, Colden's manor, he was unable to stop there, because 
Montgomerie would have known that he had gone in the inter- 
est of Lewis Morris, and Morris would have been certain he had 
acted as the governor's decoy. And at this time one of his 
most assiduous correspondents was one of Cosby's most steady 
favourites. 

This was Daniel Horsmanden, a young barrister of the Inner 
Temple. He had come over with letters of introduction to 
Cosby and Colden, loaded with debts, but hoping to make his 
fortune in land. For the legitimate use of legal talents did not 
bring riches in 1732, though the prospect of seeing the young 
barrister's gown filled the court room on the day of his first ap- 



A Colonial Politician 125 

pearance, and was town talk for days after. Frankly professing 
self-interest as the leading motive for his friendship, and sprin- 
kling his letters with impertinent allusions to Colden's good 
friends, "Old Morris" and all his family, his wit and good 
fellowship nevertheless charmed the surveyor general into many ^ 
a good turn. But, however much it might have been to Colden's 
interest, he was not equally helpful to Horsmanden's chief 
patron. ReaHze his danger though he did, Cosby's demand of 
one-third of every grant surveyed, his greedy eagerness for tips 
on the most desirable investments, his evident expectation of an 
alliance between land office and executive, at times irritated 
Colden almost into incivility. Therefore he was scarcely sur- 
prised when he heard from Horsmanden one day that he had 
been suspended from office, and though in this case intention 
had been mistaken for fact, it was so evident that Cosby meant 
to suspend him sometime, that he promptly took measures for 
entering his defence in advance. 

He was enabled to do this through Lewis Morris, who, in 
England for the purpose of reversing his own suspension as 
chief justice, found time and opportunity in his good-hearted 
way to work for Colden. Cosby, it seemed, proposed to indict 
his surveyor general on three grounds, and these Morris set him- 
self to refute. First, Colden, Cosby claimed, had reported that 
the governor was poor pay, and that his bills had been protested. 
This, Morris said, had not been proved true, but even if it had, 
he could see no crime in stating what every one knew already. 
Secondly, it was claimed that Colden had shown the council's 
letter to Newcastle concerning the late chief justice to Morris 
himself. This Morris flatly denied. Another man, a merchant 
and not a councillor, had shown it to him, and Colden was miles 
away at the time. This may have been true, but there is reason 
to think that the charge was timely in spirit, at least, for, by his 
own confession, Morris was shown the council minute regard- 



126 Cadwallader Colden 

ing his suspension some days before the suspension itself reached 
him, and as Colden was the only councillor present who was 
friendly to Morris, it is possible to infer a fact closely resembling 
Cosby's indictment.* Finally, it was stated that Colden had 
served the prince in 1 7 1 5 . Fortunately, the Marquis of Lothian, 
the intimate friend of the powerful Duke of Argyle, and a chum 
of Colden's boyhood, had, as Lord Jedburgh, been the means 
of his raising a small company to meet the Highlanders who had 
come south to support that same princeling, and to him Morris 
appealed. The real reason for Cosby's enmity, he said, was 
that Colden had made an honest surveyor general. What if 
he did take shares in the grants, Morris demanded ; he had no 
other salary, and it was expected that he would. However, 
though Lothian said a number of kind things about Colden's 
father, and promised to do all that he could, and Morris felt 
confident of success, it was perhaps as well that Cosby's death 
removed the necessity for further effort. 

The governor's last illness was a fever, and during its tedious 
course the province had almost gone mad over the question of 
his successor. Naturally, Rip Van Dam, the senior councillor, 
would have become acting governor on Cosby's death. But 
Van Dam had been the willing, though somewhat guileless, 
centre of many of the storms of that administration, and Cosby 
had not been ill many hours before Van Dam was summoned 
to his bedside, with the rest of the council, and suspended. 
This left George Clarke at the head of the board. Yet the legal 
duration of the suspension and Clarke's consequent right to the 
government were so disputed, that it was not until more than 
eight months after Cosby's death, in February, 1736, when 
official papers arrived from England addressed to Clarke as 
commander-in-chief, that the normal functions of adminis- 
tration were resumed. 

» N. Y. Col. Docs., V, 951. 



A Colonial Politician 127 

Clarke's triumph was already complete, but its completeness 
was emphasized and the prestige and security of his position 
increased when his commission as lieutenant-governor followed 
close on the heels of his confirmation as senior councillor. For 
the time at least Van Dam and Alexander, Morris and Smith, 
had little to hope for. Colden, on the contrary, though he and 
Alexander were still the best of friends, sent congratulations to 
Clarke all the way from the wilderness of western New York, 
where he was surveying. Harmony between surveyor general 
and governor was desirable from both points of view, and Col- 
den never denied that he wanted to make all the money he hon- 
estly could from his office. Moreover, he had learned how un- 
pleasant an unfriendly governor could be. But though there is 
no evidence that he and his former antagonist neglected their 
opportunities, their administration of the land office was suf- 
ficiently just to have caused little comment had it not been for 
one instance. It seems that a certain lord of the isles, one 
Laughlin Campbell, had formed a scheme for a great feudal 
estate somewhere in the British colonies, with himself as over- 
lord, and in the year 1737 he crossed the Atlantic merely to decide 
on its location. He found that on the whole the province of 
New York offered the greatest advantages. The hundred thou- 
sand acres which three years before Cosby, at Colden 's instiga- 
tion, had thrown open to Protestant families from any country 
in Europe, were gone, but he easily secured a promise of thirty 
thousand more, free of all charges save the expense of the sur- 
vey and the usual quit-rent. Indeed, both Clarke and Colden 
beUeved that a line of frontier farms and estates would afiford 
the best possible check to French encroachments, and were 
more than willing to encourage desirable grantees. When, 
however, Campbell returned to America with about eighty- 
three families, it was evident that he did not belong in this cate- 
gory. Neither he nor his people had any financial resources; 



128 Cadwallader C olden 

the assembly refused to supply the amount necessary to tide 
the enterprise over until crops could be gathered ; and the pro- 
spective vassals had either decided on the way over that they 
would do anything rather than serve Campbell, or had always in- 
tended to strike out for themselves when they reached America. 
At any rate, some began to apply for separate holdings, and when 
the governor had them called together in order to find out their 
intentions, they one and all declared that they would not be 
Campbell's tenants. Then, it being evident that it would be 
impossible for Campbell, even with their assistance, to cultivate 
the proportion of his grant required by the instructions, the 
patent was withheld. 

Such a refusal was justifiable, but it long affected Colden's 
reputation, and indeed never ceased to have an influence on his 
career. When William Smith, for instance, pubUshed his 
famous history twenty years later, he brought his narrative to 
a close with the year 1732, because he feared to stir the still- 
living embers of a bitter conflict ; yet he took pains to tell Camp- 
bell's story in the appendix, where he said that his scheme had 
failed "through the sordid views of some persons in power, who 
aimed at a share in the intended grant, to which Campbell, who 
was a man of spirit, would not consent." This sent Colden to 
his pen, denying the ill-concealed impeachment and challenging 
Smith's authority, but courteously absolving him from inten- 
tional slander and informing him where truth could be found. 
In a later letter he begged him even more earnestly to consult 
the council records, to question surviving members of Camp- 
bell's company. But Smith considered his own authorities — 
a boyish impression, contemporary gossip, the complaints of 
Campbell's widow, a remembered comment of James Alex- 
ander's — suflScient, and refused to extend the sources of his 
information. He who ran might read that in 1 741 a committee 
of council, with Daniel Horsmanden, then Colden's friend no 



A Colonial Politician 129 

longer, in the chair, had rejected a petition of Campbell's, beg- 
ging that the refusal of his patent be reversed, and had stated 
that he could not rightfully consider himself disappointed. 
Smith not only ignored this important evidence, but in the con- 
tinuation of his history repeated his former statement, this time 
with names, and added: "Mr. Golden, to vindicate Mr. Clarke, 
and to exculpate himself, though not named in the former 
representation of Campbell's disappointment, gave himself the 
trouble of two letters to the author. . . . The author's object 
being general, he decHned entering into any partial controversy 
respecting the criminahty of individuals. Let it suffice, that 
the account given was consistent with information procured 
from Mr. Alexander, whose intimacy with Mr. Golden gives it 
force." From such an opponent Golden was to receive small 
mercy when his opportunity came.' 

Despite many difficulties Clarke's administration progressed 
at first with much satisfaction to himself. His object was to 
get the assembly well enough in hand to prevent charges of mis- 
management and incompetency, but at the same time to impress 
observers at a distance with the great difficulty of keeping a hold 
on the reins. In this way he trusted prospective governors 
would be frightened away, and he himself left in undisturbed 
possession. For several years his method worked to a charm. 
Lord Delaware, indeed, was appointed governor of New York, 
and his commission and instructions were prepared, but his 
resignation soon followed, and then for a long time Clarke was 
not even annoyed by rumours of a successor. Meanwhile, the 
assembly steadily advanced their claims, Clarke humouring them 
as much as he dared. He knew the leaders, and he knew that 
the rough independence of their pubUc addresses to himself was 
to suit the taste of their followers. But he was assured that 
he would not be permitted to sufifer. So he pleased them by 

• Collections of the N. Y. His. See, Second Series, II, 193-214. 



130 Cadwallader Colden 

promising to serve as their agent in urging the royal approval of 
an act for triennial assembUes, and, at first, accepted an annual 
and appropriated revenue with a good grace. As time went on, 
however, his affairs wore a less happy aspect. He had not 
always drawn a pleasant picture of his people in his letters, 
and his people commenced to find out that he and their leaders 
had sometimes played them false. Moreover, it was a matter 
of general belief that only Cosby 's untimely death had prevented 
the suspension of Clarke from following that of Van Dam, in 
order to pave the way for James Delancey's advancement. If 
this were true, it is not to be wondered at that the Delancey 
contingent had supported the administration but feebly. Still, 
though Clarke began to demand an unappropriated revenue 
for a term of years, and when it was refused, darkly to hint 
at the use of force, his own perfect self-command and personal 
dignity prevented the repetition of earlier squabbling between 
governor and legislature. And at length, some five years after 
Cosby's death, the comparative calm of the province and his 
own financial condition induced a naval officer of the family of 
CUnton to consent to become its executive head, his departure 
for his new appointment, however, being delayed two years and 
more. 

The Clarke administration had, on the whole, proved agree- 
able to Colden. Much occupied with boundary disputes and 
various Uterary and scientific schemes, he yet was more in town 
than he had been since Burnet's time. Once more while there 
he was a man of importance, whose opinions carried weight. 
With many friends among the disaffected, he did all he could 
to win them to the administration. But he did good work 
among others who had not been his friends, and Clarke was 
apparently grateful. That he could do this harder work was 
in some measure due to his family. His big farm up the colony 
required the presence of himself or his wife, but two attractive 



A Colonial Politician i^i 

daughters just in society were their father's willing companions, 
and their easy popularity, which lightly rode over all party lines, 
was, for a time at least, reflected on Golden himself. He, how- 
ever, pleased though he was at his renewed prestige, found it no 
compensation for the loss of his wife's society and a life of busy 
leisure. There was something strenuous even about little old 
New York, and Golden 's complaints about the interruptions, 
without which it seemed impossible to write a single letter, sound 
strangely familiar. "Our party disputes are as high as ever," 
he wrote Mrs. Golden late in 1737, "while some are endeavour- 
ing to widen the rent, others are endeavouring to patch it up. 
What will be the result it is difficult to tell. . . . You may be 
sure we will stay here as short while as possible, but it is impos- 
sible for me to tell when I shall leave the place and affairs are 
in such a state that I cannot at this time propose leaving it with- 
out disobliging perhaps all my friends. ..." 

In fact, for all his activity, Golden considered himself still out 
of politics, and desired to remain so. Naturally, he had an 
almost passionate ambition to deserve well of his country, to 
render her conspicuous service of some sort. But he had become 
used to Hving away from the centre of things, and he had been 
given to understand too often that his efforts for the colony's 
advancement were undesired, to feel any satisfaction or confi- 
dence in their renewal. Nor was he inclined to change his mind 
when, in 1738, his position was strengthened by the marriage 
of Betty Golden to Peter Delancey, second son of Stephen and 
brother of James. He was, indeed, flattered by the apparent 
pleasure the match gave the Delancey connection, and joyfully 
wrote his wife that the youthful chief justice treated him like a 
dearly beloved father. But he was more deeply touched by the 
applause with which his scientific achievements were being re- 
ceived in some quarters, and looked forward to spending more 
and more time in study and experiment. 



132 Cadwallader Colden 

II 

When at last, in the autumn of 1743, Admiral Clinton ar- 
rived, it seemed probable that Colden 's part in his administra- 
tion would be very small indeed. The son of one Earl of Lin- 
coln, the brother of another, and the uncle of a third and fourth, 
the new governor had obtained his appointment through one 
of these nephews, who had married Miss Pelham, daughter of 
the chancellor of the Exchequer. In truth, this connection could 
alone have suggested him for the important task upon which he 
was about to enter. There was every reason to suppose that 
war between England and France would soon be declared. 
This would mean intercolonial war, a struggle between New 
France and New England, with New York as its strategic point ; 
and that would mean that New York's Indians must be well 
handled and that New York's assembly must be handled even 
better. Yet to do this England had sent a mere naval oflEicer, 
good-natured and kind-hearted, but with no experience in civil 
administration, no natural or acquired diplomacy, no habits of 
self-control, and accustomed to the downright discipline of his 
arm of the service in the middle of the eighteenth century. He 
had not even been coached, as had some of his predecessors, 
in colonial poUtics and the ways of colonial poUticians. He had 
only been told that he must look out for Clarke; that Clarke 
had made Ufe uncomfortable for Cosby, and would doubtless like 
to make it uncomfortable for him, so that he himself might be 
chief magistrate once more. And Clinton was so pleased by this 
knowledge and by the way in which he displayed it, that, when 
Clarke refused to play second fiddle and resigned from the 
council, he thought his need for caution at an end, and rushed 
on his fate with a Hght heart. 

James Delancey was very clearly the most commanding 
figure in the province. He was a prince of good fellows, and he 



A Colonial Politician 133 

advocated a policy of concession well-pleasing to easy-going 
Clinton. Therefore, never thinking that Delancey might also 
have schemes not altogether to his advantage, Chnton did as 
he bade him, — recommended for vacancies in the council the 
men he suggested, was agreeably bUnd to the encroachments of 
the legislature, and substituted for the chief justice's old com- 
mission, which, as usual, ran "during pleasure," one with the 
tenure of "during good behaviour." Nor did he suspect any- 
thing when, after war with France had become a fact, even De- 
lancey could not induce the assembly so much as to consider 
the administration's plans for the defence of the colony; when, 
even with such backing, it was common talk that a member of 
the assembly had told a member of the council that the assembly 
would oppose the administration's pet scheme, — a fort at the 
carry between the Hudson and Lake Champlain, — be the argu- 
ments for it never so good ; when before the governor personally 
could have done anything to anger them, the assembly had left 
one of his messages unanswered and even unnoticed. 

About this time Golden, who had left town almost as soon 
as he had been sworn in under the new governor, came down 
to attend the council, of which, owing to Clarke's departure 
for England, he was now president. As senior councillor 
he was also next to Clinton in line of succession, and it was 
soon evident that many remembered this, to them, depressing 
fact. "Business stands still in such a state that I know it to be 
needless to ask leave to be with you," he wrote his wife in Sep- 
tember, 1744. "All I can say is that I shall not easily be pre- 
vailed on to put myself in their power again. But the present 
Circumstances of the War lays me under a necessity of staying 
unless I had an excuse that would take off all gainsaying." Yet 
with some good friends about him, Colden could have put up 
with much had he felt that anything was being accomplished. 
But neither the frequent reports of the sinister activity of the 



1^4 Cadwallader C olden 

French among the Indians, nor the tidings of a French naval 
force at Cape Breton, nor the prospect of the necessity of heavy 
expenditure of men and money stirred the New York law- 
makers with the spirit of practical patriotism. Consultation 
only followed debate and debate consultation until, after two 
months of tiresome inaction, Colden once more fled to Coldeng- 
ham. Here, lost in a new set of experiments, testing the heal- 
ing properties of pokeweed and tar-water, he heard of New 
England's designs on Louisburg, of the impossibility of rous- 
ing the New York assembly to emulation, and of its angry dis- 
solution by Chnton with the sanction of his council. 

"The Boston expedition against Cape Breton," wrote James 
Alexander, "Seems a Bad undertaking. I hearty ly wish it may 
Succeed, but I am afraid of it, for the want of Warriors & 
Engineers which I look upon to be as much an art as any manual 
Occupation. Their Generalissimo I hear is a new Hght man 
that never Saw a Shot fired in anger. The being an Enthusiast 
I take it to be no ill property in a warrior, but the Defect of Ex- 
perience, I Doubt if that good property will Supply. Its said 
they had three good Engineers but owned not one of them was 
at a Siege. I Doubt much if Theory will supply that Defect. 
The number of men proposed for the Expedition viz. 7 or 8000 
Seems fully sufficient were the half of them but Veterans. If 
it Succeed it will be the most glorious thing that has been done 
this Warr & the more usefuU if the Conquest can be kept for its 
the only place of Rendezvous that the french have to Annoy the 
Northern plantations with from the Sea." 

Yet, pleased as he might be, Clinton could win no assistance 
whatever from the prosperous burghers of his province. "I 
tired not a Uttle at New York," wrote CUnton's friend, John 
Rutherford,^ member of council and captain of regulars at 
Albany, "being all ways in A Hurry yet nothing done especially 

» April 22, 1745. 



A Colonial Politician 135 

in the Assembly where they had a great deal of Bustle yet in the 
end seems resolved to leave all affairs as they found them show- 
ing no less indifference about providing for their own defence 
than in assisting their Neihbours ; Nay they won't so much as 
Consult with, or act in Concert with the other provinces, refus- 
ing I find to empower His Excellency to name Commissioners 
for that purpose. We have four Forts here Garrisoned by these 
two Companys besides Oswego & neither powder or any Other 
Ammunition or a days provisions in one of them or in any re- 
pair. ... I can't imagine what hinders the French from take- 
ing Oswego and raising Contributions at Albany they must be 
in great Straits for provisions or something we have not yet 
learned. ... I long much to see you, Pray come up as soon 
as you can, I have a Bed ready for you, 'Tis impossible for 
me at present to pay my respects to you at Colingham, not 
haveing One Lieutenant here belonging to my Company, being 
each at an Out Garrison & only Old Capt Blood belonging to 
the Governour, who is often sick, & you know we are but four 
days March from Crown point." 

And again Rutherford writes on June 20, 1745, when the 
election for what Clinton trusted would be a more generous 
assembly had just taken place: "The Old Members were re- 
elected here by Mr. Livingston's giving up his Son, & he and 
all the Commissioners, Justices, etc. Joining their Interest 
against Lidius who I'm told would have carryed it against 'em 
all, had Mr. Johnstoun and others who were against the Old 
Members come to Town, but he & many others despairing too 
soon did not come down and gave over acting for Lidius. I 
hope this will find you at New York where I have directed it 
for you & where I'm certain your presence will be extremely 
wanted, & your Knowledge and experience in affairs will be 
thoroughly tryed in getting things done with Such Spirit as is 
necessary in So Critical a Juncture of affairs both at home and 



1^6 Cadwallader C olden 

abroad, At home from the Encroachments of the Assembly; 
Abroad in Assisting against The Common Enemy. I see by a 
Plan in last week's newspaper that the Fortifications of Louis- 
bourg are quite different from what we imagined when you was 
here & so strong that I don't imagine the New England Forces 
would ever have taken it by themselves otherwise than by Starve- 
ing them, & now that they have the Assistance of a Number of 
Men of War and 400 Marines doe I think they will [not] be able 
to make themselves Masters of the Place without great assistance 
from this Province, For Boston is exhausted allready & Britain too 
distant, as we ought to lay our accounts that our Enemy's 
will do what is properest for them to do, Should they send A 
Small Army of French & Indians from Quebec to harass our 
Forces from the Woods & throw in a Supply of Men & Pro- 
visions to the town 'twill render it a very tedious Siege & I hear 
of no Lines thrown up by our people to defend themselves & 
Trenches from such Attacks nor do I believe 'tis easy to do it 
The Soil being rocky ; Soe unless this Province raise a Sufficient 
number of Men & Provisions Cape Breton will remain in French 
hands & they'l soon repent their ill-timed Saveing, be blamed 
by all at home & abroad & instead of thanks the Curse of their 
Posterity. Twould not be worth while to send fewer than 1600 
& the 4 Companys in all 2000 Men, the 1600 could be raised by 
detachments from the militia viz. so many out of each 100 de- 
livered by the Capts of Militia to the Capts appointed for the 
service & this done as soon as the vessels at New York & 
Albany Sloops could be fitted to transport them which I should 
be of opinion could be done in a fortnight if Gentlemen of 
Familys Interest & Character resolve to goe on the expedition & 
get about it with Spirit. Governour Clinton has Allready done 
everything in his power to promote the honour & Interest of 
His Majesty & The Province, how ill he has been supported in 
so laudable designs hitherto we have seen to the Sorrow of all 



A Colonial Politician 137 

Men of Sense or honour in the Province, & indeed I have some 
fears at seeing so many of Last Assembly re-elected that it may 
prove difficult to make them understand their true interest & 
proper way of serveing themselves the Publick & their pos- 
terity by doeing what is necessary for supporting the honour & 
Interest of this Province & annoying our Enemy's, whom we'll 
find ten times the expense of defending ourselves against when 
attacked here, than in preventing that by attacking them when 
so fair an opportunity opens of doeing it to good purpose. 
Should This Assembly follow the example of the last I hope, I 
dare say The council will take the most vigorous measures by 
exerting their own power here & proper applications at home, 
to oblige the Assembly to confine themselves to their own proper 
business of levying what money is judged necessary upon 
the people by the properest & least oppressive methods, & no 
longer pretend rebellion, I own I am much surprised how any 
former Governour could give up His Majesty & their own 
power & Authority in so many different things intrusted with 
them, & now lost proves [it] soe prejudicial to the Present Gov- 
ernour & to the PubUck. As I had the pleasure of talking these 
affairs all over with you when you did me the honour of A Visit 
here, You know my way of thinking on these matters & if my 
comeing down, tho' 'twould be very inconvenient, can be of the 
Smallest Service I am ready at a minute's warning. I beg your 
thought of affairs as soon As you receive this for I know by that 
time you can form some judgment of them." 

Though elsewhere, as in Albany County, the members of the 
last assembly were generally elected to the new, the dissolution 
did for Delancey just what he had probably meant it should ac- 
comphsh. For Phihpse, long time speaker, and the one man who 
had ever opposed the chief justice with success, was defeated, 
and David Jones, a member for Queens County, who had been 
curiously intimate with Delancey, though they had been of 



i^S Cadwallader C olden 

opposing forces, was put in his place. Golden had ears to hear, 
and wrote begging the governor to make his excuses to the 
council. The absolute cessation of the work, and therefore of the 
profits, of the surveyor general's office due to the French war, 
the increase in the expense of Uving arising from the same cause, 
together with the recent marriage of a son, made it necessary, 
he said, that he should devote himself more exclusively to his pri- 
vate affairs. ** The attendance on the Council," he continued in 
his letter to CUnton, "puts the Gentlemen who Hve in town to 
no extra expense & their number is sufficient. We in the coun- 
try may therefore hope to be excused when there is no necessity 
but if it be tho't requisite that some of us who Hve in the country 
attend as Mr. Livingston did not attend last Session & has not 
in general given his attendance so often as I have done & has 
not the same excuse which I have, I hope my excuse may be 
preferr'd to his. I suppose that the Business of the Session 
is concerted before the meeting & when that is don as I take 
it the business of the Council is httle else beside formal because 
we have no parties nor disputes among us. Whenever my 
attendance shall be thought of real use I shall very cheerfully 
give it but when it is not so I hope it will not be insisted upon 
or that Mr. Livingston & I be so far indulged as to give our 
attendance by turns. As I am in no way upon the reserve in 
giving any assistance at this time I shall freely tell you one 
thing which in my opinion ought to be tho't of before the 
meeting of the Assembly & measures concerted concerning it. 
There is no doubt that the taking of Cape Breton will give un- 
easy apprehensions to Canada & that they'l expect to be at- 
tacked next. They must of course think of everything to pre- 
vent this. I know of nothing in their power likely to be so 
effectual as inciting our own Indians to revolt against us which 
with the assistance of the French & French Indians would 
give us work enough at home & that the French are actually 



A Colonial Politician 139 

upon this project I think appears plainly enough by the conduct 
of our own Indians at this time. Our Indians the Mohawks 
in particular by all accounts are very much dissatisfied & have 
been so many years, & several of them gon this Summer to 
Canada under this ill disposition. When I was among them 
about seven years since they were so & by all the information 
I can obtain it has not lessen'd but increased. It seems to be 
likewise certain that the Indians are so far from having any 
Confidence in the men who have the Commission for Indian 
affairs that they have an absolute diffidence of them. Neither 
have the people of the City of Albany any confidence in them, 
it is impossible then that the Indian affairs can be well managed 
in their hands. 

" It is not difficult to discover from what this arises but be it 
from whatever cause This diffidence of it makes it necessary 
to put the management in other hands & in my opinion the 
Indian affairs will be better managed by one or two than by 
such a number as now are in commission especially in time of 
war which requires in all urgent cases at least the greatest 
secrecy and greatest dispatch. There is no doubt it will be 
easier to find one or two men fit to be entrusted than twenty 
as the case now is. Perhaps this may occasion a greater 
expence because when people serve the publick without any 
private view they 'I expect different pay from what will satisfy 
those who make use of public employment only to their private 
profit but be that whatever since it is necessary it must be pro- 
vided for & in my opinion it is more necessary for the defence 
of the province than the Fortifications about the city of New 
York. I am likewise of opinion that His Excellency's meeting 
with the Indians will not be of that use which is expected unless 
the present disposition of the Indians be first taken oflf by a 
continued and assiduous application of such means as may be 
necessary. Now, Sr, if such an expense be so necessary as it 



140 Cadwallader C olden 

appears to me must it be provided for whatever it be but I 
believe that if the money usually given to the Comrs of Indian 
affairs for that Service and the Duties on the Indian trade were 
put under proper regulation the extra expense will not be so 
great as at first may be imagined. Now, Sr, if there be any reso- 
lution to take the Indian affairs under consideration next ses- 
sion to any purpose I will if desired cheerfully go to town to 
give my assistance if my assistance shal be thought useful 
from my formerly having taken as much pains to be informed 
of the Indian affairs and treaties with the English & French 
but if nothing more is likely to pass the Council than the neces- 
sary money bills & the common affairs, I hope for the reason 
I have given I may be excused & for this purpose I beg of you 
(if you think it proper) to convey what I now write to the Gentle- 
men of the Council." 

Then proceeding to prove what he said, Colden sketched the 
official career of these Indian commissioners. Traders for the 
most part, they had again and again been accused by the Ind- 
ians of fraud and bad faith, and they had often richly deserved 
the accusation. Indeed, that they used their position to force 
the Indian traders visiting Albany to come to them first, and then 
had used the colony money to make them so drunk that they 
could cheat them as they would, was only one of their customary 
methods, to which Colden himself was willing to swear. But 
for their complete success it was necessary that the Indians 
should be neutral in war. Under cover of the neutrality of the 
last war, when these commissioners had been so untrammelled 
that they had actually sold ammunition at Albany to eastern 
Indians then fighting the English of the more eastern colonies, 
they had made fortunes. Naturally, they were now eager to 
increase them, and apparently Clinton was going to shut his 
eyes to their methods. He did urge the prohibition of trade 
with the French Indians, enforcing his recommendation with 



A Colonial Politician 141 

some of Colden's instances, but he said nothing about the 
commissioners, and Colden was not obliged to redeem his 
magnanimous offer. He kept his eye on the Indians, however, 
the Indians of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as those 
of New York, and industriously kept the governor informed of 
what he saw in letters that effected little more than the satis- 
faction of his own conscience, some disappearing in committees 
of council, others in the assembly, while two at least bear 
Clinton's reproachful endorsement: "Report never made 
though called for by me several times." ^ But the autumn 
brought a comforting vindication of his judgment. For when 
the Indians were met at Albany by Clinton and representatives 
of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut, and were told of the 
attacks being made on the eastern colonies by the eastern 
Indians, and asked to avenge them, they were so indifferent 
and made such frivolous excuses, that the Massachusetts com- 
missioners openly and dramatically accused the Albany people, 
and especially Councillor Livingston, of the very purposes and 
plans that Colden had condemned. Now it happened that 
this same Philip Livingston was one of Clinton's attendant 
advisers. Therefore, to the commissioners' heated demands 
that the Indians be forced to give evidence of their good faith, 
Clinton, himself, offered a frivolous excuse, and the Massa- 
chusetts men left in a rage.^ 

It was small wonder if Clinton's policy was rather hap- 
hazard. The wonder is how he got on at all. By himself he 
could do Uttle ; he could not write his own speeches, he could 
not argue; and Delancey was too busy with his own plans to 
give him more than a perfunctory assistance. Indeed, his 
plans were such that it was all the better for them when Clinton 
blundered. Hence CUnton refused to reenforce the post at 

' Mss. Proceedings of the Executive Council, January 15, 1746. 
' N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 296-306. 



142 Cadwallader C olden 

Saratoga if the assembly neglected to put it in decent repair; 
and when the news of its destruction arrived in the midst of 
the wrangHng about its preservation, fixed the blame with such 
tempestuous violence that the really guilty and frightened 
members regained their good repute and courage; hence he 
deeply offended the militia by despatching some of their number 
on frontier duty, and then was obliged to look on helplessly 
while the rest refused to mount the usual guard at his house; 
hence he criticised the Indian commissioners with such a good- 
will that they wrote it would give them great pleasure to resign ; 
and hence at last, he quarrelled with Delancey himself, the 
political "chief" of the province. The break occurred one night 
after dinner, and neither was in a judicial frame of mind ; yet 
when CUnton blurted out that he was tired of being managed 
and proposed in the future to maintain the dignity of his posi- 
tion, and Delancey flung himself out of the room vowing that 
CUnton's Hfe should be made miserable, they only did as they 
had long wanted to do in their more rational moments. 

As usual, fortune was kind to Delancey. The governor had 
scarcely recovered from the shock of parting when word arrived 
from Newcastle that his government must raise and provision 
a quota of volunteers to join in an expedition for the conquest 
of Canada. The troops raised in the colonies from Virginia 
to Connecticut were to attack the French by land, while those 
from the eastern colonies, supported by a fleet and eight bat- 
talions of regulars from home, were to attack them by water. 
Clinton was in despair. He must win the Indians to active 
participation in the scheme, he must persuade the assembly 
to finance it. Yet how was this possible with no one to prompt 
him, no one to assist him in any way? He had, moreover, 
something new to contend with in the form of a steering com- 
mittee organized jointly by council and assembly. This com- 
mittee, which had Delancey for chairman and Horsmanden 



A Colonial Politician 143 

for secretary, prepared legislation and outlined policy, report- 
ing once a week, and from the beginning it enjoyed supreme 
power and influence. It swayed the assembly, while among 
the members of the council, Livingston and Horsmanden, 
Cortlandt and Bayard, Delancey and Murray, were its leaders 
and spokesmen. This left Rutherford, Golden, and Kennedy, 
the first a regular army officer whose place in war was on the 
frontier, and the last-named a man who was as slow with the 
pen as the governor himself. To Golden, then, Glinton in 
his extremity turned. To the formal summons issued to all 
absent councillors he added an urgent personal appeal, and 
when, about the middle of June, 1746, the senior councillor 
arrived in New York, quite unprepared for the change in politi- 
cal relations which had taken place, he was positively frightened 
at his own excessively cordial welcome and at the sight of the 
lonely governor. "As I have been long from the pubHc busi- 
ness," he wrote to Mrs. Golden, "I cannot with any counte- 
nance ask leave to return home at this time & it would not 
easily be granted by the Governour unless there were a very 
evident reason for it. Notwithstanding of this I wish very 
heartily to be with you for my being in town at this time has 
occasioned a great deal of Jealousy among some folks. To 
remove it in some measure I design to go to-morrow to West- 
chester & to be absent two or three days. The Governour 
desired me with some concern to go with him to Albany but I 
with a great deal of earnestness decHned it & I hope to hear 
no more of it. We have no news as yet but every moment 
expected." 

Golden 's hopes were vain. "I have the honour of yours of 
the 3d Instant & your Essay which I expect great pleasure 
from," wrote Rutherford, " & when I have perused it you may 
depend on my tho't of it in the freest manner, but now the Beat- 
ing of Drums for the New levys, the attention to news from 



144 Cadwallader C olden 

Canada, Europe, & Cape Breton & how preparations are going 
at New York & the neighbouring provinces for our great Enter- 
prise against Canada, makes me write you in a very different 
Strain, & beg your opinion of the manner that affair is proposed 
to be carry 'd on & what information you can give me of the 
above articles. As you are, I hear, now at New York, pray get 
notice as soon as possible how the new Battallions raised are 
to command & how the four companys here are to be disposed 
of my present view & ambition being to get the Rank of Lieut. 
Coll^ by means of the new levies & at the same time keep my 
company in order to have something certain, how I'm to bring 
this about, have no notion of at present; so pray say nothing 
of my design to any person whatever, only make the necessary 
enquiry that I may know how to apply by being amongst the 
first to know how things are to be managed. I must insist on 
your being present here with the Governour, when he comes to 
treat with the Indians, for many reasons, most of which you can 
easily guess, the rest I'l tell you at meeting & only assure you 
at present that 'tis necessary for the publick good & as I depend 
upon your being my guest here I'l take you shall be free from 
the noise & hubbub in town for my house stands in a quiet 
spot opposite to the Recorders." 

"I came yesterday from Westchester," wrote Colden him- 
self on July 3d. "I staid longer there than would otherwise 
[have] done in order to have got soon home that I might avoid 
what other people generally are fond of; that is that I might 
be as little concern'd in the conduct of affairs as possible. But 
I know not, all things are at a stand & I am affray'd it will 
not be in my power to keep so much unconcerned as I wish 
to be without laying aside all concern for the success of the 
Expedition, & for the success of which I think no man living 
in this Country can be indifferent. 

"The Council is call'd at nine this morning," he continued, 



A Colonial Politician 



^45 



" & I write this expecting Mr. Clinton every moment to call for 
it before I go into Council." "Yesterday morning," he adds 
on Friday, "we had a strong debate in Council who should go 
to Albany with the Governour. Every one were for my going 
notwithstanding all the opposition I could make, & I am affraid it 
will fall to my lot tho' I shall use all my endeavours against it." 
It was usual for a governor, when he held a conference with the 
Indians, to be accompanied by three members of council, the 
quorum for ordinary business. But on this occasion, because 
of the great importance of the work to be done, Clinton asked 
for as large a delegation as possible. Every one, however, 
had an excuse. The chief justice could not leave the city; 
Horsmanden would not go unless he was paid for former jour- 
neys ; and they all said it was Colden's turn, who, with Living- 
ston and Rutherford, already on the spot, would be all that 
was necessary. Colden did well to hesitate. Painstaking and 
logical, learned and strenuous, he must have known that he was 
no match for the careless and superficial, but witty and brilUant 
Delancey, and to assist the governor meant to fight with him. 
Delancey, moreover, could count on the comfortable support 
of a large family connection. His brother-in-law, who as plain 
Peter Warren, had married Delancey's sister, had just achieved 
rather more distinction than he deserved as admiral of the fleet 
that had laid siege to Louisburg, had become Sir Peter, and a 
man of European influence. His Cambridge tutor, friend, and 
correspondent had just been made Archbishop of Canterbury; 
and he himself held a commission which it would take a ministry 
to break. Yet Colden began to think that there must be many 
steady, conservative inhabitants, indifferent to Delancey's 
easy, democratic ways, and ready to join a leader of their own 
type. Then, too, it seemed unfair to his family to refuse a 
possible opportunity for advancement. Therefore he yielded, 
and on the twenty-fourth day of July he was writing to Mrs. 



146 Cadwallader Colden 

Colden from Albany: "We did not get to this place until 
Munday afternoon & did not go a shoar till tuesday morning, I 
am now at Captn Rutherfords but their house is not very con- 
venient & I am affray'd it may be troublesome to them." 

It vi^as no holiday task that lay before him. "We are con- 
stantly employ 'd ab't something or other but it will be hard to 
say what we have don"; "There is something allmost every 
hour to take up my time because I find it necessary to think of 
more than what properly belong to me;" — expressions such as 
these fill his letters, otherwise buoyantly cheerful. When, 
moreover, he was able to snatch a moment from his occupations 
for exercise and fresh air, he feared to walk in the town where 
smallpox was epidemic, and if he took to the country beyond, 
his expeditions were quite likely to be cut short by the whiz of 
an Indian arrow. Unfriendly Algonquins, indeed, seemed more 
in evidence than the Indians whom the governor had come to 
meet. The Massachusetts commissioners arrived; news was 
received of a French army at Cape Breton; the troops began 
to straggle in and not a sachem had appeared. The Indians 
were in good hands, however, for while the commissioners were 
still nominally managing their affairs, Clinton had induced 
William Johnson, Admiral Warren's dashing Irish nephew, to 
corral them and bring them to Albany in good temper. His 
task had proved even harder than was expected. The Indians 
were full of real or pretended suspicions and fears, and it was 
not until Johnson put on blanket and feathers, danced with 
them, played with them, and even lived with them, that they 
consented to be led, gay with war paint and noisy with excite- 
ment, to the historic meeting-place. 

Clinton's anxieties, however, were by no means over. "One 
day," Colden informed his wife soon after the Indians' arrival, 
"as the Govr complain'd of the trouble he had with the Provi- 
sions, & that he did not know who to trust, I took the opportunity 



A Colonial Politician 



147 



to recommend my son to be Commissary for Provisions. This 
as I take it will be more profitable than a Captns Commissn as 
it usually has a good Sallary annexed to it but the Commissn 
cannot be made certain till the General arrive because perhaps 
he may have the nomination, but tho' it should be so the Govrs 
interest, with Captn Rutherfords and my own, may obtain it if 
he do not bring one with him. I cannot tell that Alexander 
would receive such a commission, because they must go along 
with the army, but I could recommend him to it more freely 
than Cad because he is more used to business & it will require 
much writing and exactness of accounts. I leave it to you & 
them to do as you shall think proper, because I cannot advise 
any further, it is attended with so many uncertainties ; only I 
would not let such an offer pass without giving my children an 
opportunity, if they think fit. . . ." 

In excellent health and spirits, Colden was inclined to see a 
possible good even in apparent evil. There were troubles ahead, 
however, which even the most foreboding scarcely could have 
divined, and Colden 's account of an incident which was to cause 
him infinite anxiety was, very natually, quite undisturbed by 
premonitions of the future. "The Governour has been indis- 
posed," he wrote, "but is now recover'd, tho' it is not thought 
proper for him to go abroad in this rainy weather & for that 
reason I spoke to the Indians in his name yesterday. It seemed 
well rec'd. No news of the fleet or of a General but every 
moment expected." * 

The conference had been as successful as any Indian con- 
ference could be, but Admiral Warren and Governor Shirley, 
of Massachusetts, wanted something more than an amiable 
interview. Accordingly, they wrote to Clinton asking him to 
join in an immediate attack on Crown Point, the French post 
on Lake Champlain, and Clinton referred the letter to his 

^ To Mrs. Colden, August 20, 1746. 



148 Cadwallader C olden 

attendant councillors. Extraordinary business, according to 
his instructions, required a council of five, and this was extraor- 
dinary business indeed. But the three members in Albany, 
though sensible of the risk they ran, heartily advised coopera- 
tion. The responsibility thus taken from his shoulders, Clinton 
hastened to promise assistance, gracefully leaving the choice 
of a general to Warren and Shirley. "I wrote Alexander the 
beginning of this week," says Golden, late in August, "wherein 
I inform'd him that we had succeeded to our wish in our Treaty 
with the Indians. If the fleet had arriv'd I doubt not every- 
thing had succeed'd in Uke manner. The uncertainties we are 
under will certainly keep us longer in this place than was imagined. 
An Express was sent to Boston last night at the return of which 
we shall take our final resolutions." On the 19th of September 
he reported : "An express we sent to Boston was detained there 
so long that it was 3 weeks before we receiv'd an answer. The 
General is now every day expected — One Waldo from Boston. 
A vessel from Cape Breton came in which in her passage saw 
30 ships whether French or English she cannot tell. Capt°" 
Roberts and Marshall are appointed Lieutenant Collonels, 
& Captains Clark and Rutherford Majors of the New York 
forces." At last it seemed as if something was to be done. 
"The General is not' yet arriv'd," was Colden's next bulletin. 
"One half of the New York forces, viz. Colonel Robert's Bat- 
talion, have receiv'd orders to be in readiness to march. What 
the other Battalion is to do I know not. The Gov"^ is making 
ready to return. I would be glad to have leave to go before 
him, but I must not swallow the Cow & stick on the tail. The 
company raised in our County is like to have ofl5cers to their 
own liking." 

Unfortunately, it had been a French, not an English, fleet 
that had been seen on the American coast. In fact, the Eng- 
lish fleet had sighted it some weeks earlier, and for that good 



A Colonial Politician 149 

reason never crossed the Atlantic. For the same reason 
the New England levies, confidently expected at Albany, were 
flying to protect their farms and homesteads, and Canada was 
to remain undisturbed during that year at least. The news of 
this was long in reaching New York, but fleet or no fleet it was 
nearly time for the assembly, and the governor was obUged 
to return. However, since Governor Gooch, of Virginia, who 
had been offered the command of all the forces, had now defi- 
nitely refused it, and the New England man chosen to command 
the Crown Point division was so mysteriously detained, Clinton 
was commander-in-chief of the troops on the spot, and their 
winter campaign must be planned before he left for the capital. 
As a result of his dehberations with his council, Colonel Roberts 
was put in command, and it was decided that the New York 
levies should march to the carry, where Clinton had long wished 
that a fort might be built, and there wait for news of the Massa- 
chusetts troops. If this did not arrive within a certain time, 
they were to put up winter quarters and be on hand for an 
attack in the early spring. The only difficulty was that the 
provisions for these levies were in the hands of the assembly's 
commissioners at Albany, and by the letter of the law must be 
delivered directly to the captains of the companies. Colden, 
however, being authorized to sound these men and to threaten 
the loss of their position should they prove recalcitrant, reported 
that by the aid of that stimulus they had seemed open to reason. 
It was, therefore, decided in council, that when the time came, 
the delivery of the provisions to the commander-in-chief should 
be requested ; that if this was refused, an offer should be made 
to pay for their transportation ; and that if the provisions were 
still withheld, they should be impressed by a warrant. This 
warrant was then drawn in council, and the governor left it 
behind him, when, after an absence of nearly three months, 
he returned to New York, followed a few days later by Colden. 



150 Cadwallader Colden 



III 

Once again the assembly was to meet, with Colden as the 
governor's tutor and guide. Had he but known it, his great 
moment had come. It was true that the assembly had fallen 
into the habit of considering their governors merely as gentle- 
men with a natural tendency to misappropriate the funds, 
which tendency they intended to make very difficult of grati- 
fication. It was equally true that the present governor had his 
own ideas about the expenditures which were still under his 
control. But it seems probable that Colden with invaluable 
results could have exacted a businesslike administration as the 
price of his very necessary services. As it was, he intended, 
"by showing as much as possible a respectful behaviour to them 
& by making no attempt to gain a personal power to give no real 
cause of resentment." ^ With this peaceable intention he wrote 
the governor's opening speech. 

At this time the ostensible difference between Chnton and 
the assembly sprang from their respective interpretations of 
the letter from the Duke of Newcastle. Newcastle, having said 
that the colony was to raise and provision a certain number of 
troops, had ordered Chnton to send these off on an offensive 
expedition, and to meet and give presents to the Indians. But 
not a word was said of the pay of the troops, while the financial 
responsibility for their transportation, the transportation of 
their provisions, and for the Indian auxiharies was left unde- 
termined. Clinton wanted the assembly to save the crown 
the expense of the Indians, and pay, at least temporarily, for 
the transportation of the provisions; not only the assembly, 
but the council and the merchants, insisted that Clinton pay for 
everything, the payment of which was unspecified, by bills of 
* Colden to Mr. George Clarke, November 26, 1746. 



A Colonial 'Politician 151 

exchange on the English treasury, or on the paymaster of the 
army. The ;i^4o,ooo, which the assembly promptly voted, was 
to be spent in bounties and provisions only, and the surplus 
was devoted to increasing the number of volunteers called for. 
For this reason, during the summer Clinton had been obliged 
to draw on the crown. Yet every one realized that if his bills 
were honoured, he had an excellent opportunity to turn that 
dishonest penny which they had been trying to keep away from 
him. Indeed, Golden had already urged in vain a method of 
accounts that would be above reproach, and there were already 
rumours that the presents to the Indians had not been as hand- 
some as they were expensive. 

Such, then, was supposed to be the chief difficuhy between 
governor and legislature. But Golden remembered that there 
had been an evident desire to involve Ghnton in insuperable 
difficulty, and was quite unable to permit the fact that he had 
been extricated to speak for itself. Those who had wished 
him ill must not only realize that their plot had failed, but they 
must know that it had first been recognized. So the governor's 
speech invited its hearers to admire the transformation of 
Indians sulky from mismanagement, into Indians cheerful and 
eager to act ; exhorted them to harmony ; warned them against 
the artful, designing men who had brought about the present 
discord; and grandiloquently urged them to preserve the in- 
tegrity of the constitution.^ This was the official Golden in his 
best form, and his plea for harmony at once put an end to any 
hope of it. But the assembly was in a bad humour, even before 
its presentation. For the governor, who was still feehng 
wretchedly ill, had sent for the speaker, and, by Golden's advice, 
had given him the speech instead of going with it himself, to 
the place of assembly. The assembly chose to consider them- 
selves slighted by this unprecedented proceeding, while the 

> Journal and Proceedings of the General Assembly, II, 125-126. 



152 Cadwallader Golden 

innuendoes of the speech made them furious. It was necessary 
to reUeve their minds, and when the governor sent a message 
requesting without peremptoriness that they provide for the trans- 
portation of the additional provisions they had just voted, as 
otherwise the plans of the commander-in-chief would be frus- 
trated, they decided on a characteristic document, known as 
a representation/ While it was being prepared, moreover, 
word came that on the refusal of the commissioners of provi- 
sions at Albany to deliver their charge to Roberts, the mayor 
and sheriflf by his order had used the impress warrant to seize 
provisions for fourteen hundred men for two months. The 
assembly burst into a series of resolves, accusing Holland, Col- 
den, and Roberts of "arbitrary, illegal, and unwarrantable 
conduct," and demanding their prosecution; and then followed 
these up by their representation. 

This document was perhaps chiefly remarkable as showing 
the possible difference between points of view. The assembly 
had observed no Indian disaffection ; they were not impressed, 
therefore, by its removal. If it had existed, Clinton, to whom 
they had given money for a treaty and presents the year before, 
could best tell why, and they wished to look at the evidence. 
They considered themselves fully capable of guarding against 
artful, designing men, but they feared that a man of that descrip- 
tion had gained the governor's confidence, and they begged him 
to be watchful. Finally, they frankly disapproved his winter 
camp, where desertions would be frequent, and where sickness 
would soon weaken those who were left. The administration 
replied to the double shot in alternation. The governor dis- 
approved the open criticism of his winter camp ; he threatened 
to complain to the king; and he assumed the responsibility of 
the provisions incident, saying that what was done had been 
done by his order, approved by his council and a council of 

* Journal, II, 128, et seq. 



A Colonial Politician 153 

war. Especially did he object to the insinuations thrown at 
Golden and himself, and though he declared that he would be 
dehghted to help unearth possible fraud, he positively refused 
to order a prosecution. But the assembly had no intention of 
letting the ball drop. Voting the answer unsatisfactory, they 
declared that whoever was trying to create and encourage bad 
feelings between the governor and themselves was an enemy to 
the constitution they had been urged to revere, and that until 
redress was given, they would refuse further supplies. Where- 
upon CUnton, with unusual diplomacy, promised that the thing 
should not occur again, because the provisions would, he ex- 
pected, be delivered when occasion required. 

Golden, meanwhile, was quite unconscious of having said 
anything he should not have said, and his letters are those of a 
cheerful martyr. "We have nothing new here besides what 
is in the prints," he wrote home on November 3, 1746. "It 
is certain that the French fleet is gon & we are freed from all 
fears of them & the account of the miserable condition they 
were in as related in the prints is true, & worse than there 
related. I saw a letter from the Gapt° of the flag of truce that 
left them after they had sail'd from Gheboucta harbour. We 
hear nothing of our fleet & we still remain under the same un- 
certainties we did as to all pubUc affairs. The representation 
the assembly is to make has not as yet appeared. After we shall 
have seen it we shall be able to judge better of the affairs in this 
province. I left the Gompany I was with when you went be- 
tween four & five in the afternoon & by that means came off 
well. The Governor kept his promise in not stopping me or 
desiring me to stay." "The Assembly have made a Represen- 
tation which you will see in Print," he announced a few days 
later. "I hope the generality of people will be better pleased 
with his answer than with their Representation." And again 
he wrote on November 9 : " But you will perhaps hear some 



154 Cadwallader C olden 

things as to publick affairs. A Base Lye printed of me in the 
votes. But be no way concern'd. All this will turn out to my 
advantage & I hope at last to the Benefite of my family. My 
Enemies will do more for me than my friends could without 
them & my enemies ought to make me amends for I have given 
no Provocation to any man. The only thing that troubles me 
is that I am affray 'd I must stay in this place till the time the 
Ships go for England. The Govr has not spoke to me on this 
head but I suspect it must be . . ." 

How his enemies were to assist him may be seen from the 
following: "It is impossible to act in the Station I am in with- 
out meeting with ill-natur'd returns for actions which perhaps 
are most deserving. I now can assure you that the maUce 
shown at this time is so far from being hurtful that thereby they 
give an opportunity to lay open the good Services done which 
otherwise might have been thought vain and indecent." And 
Major Rutherford, with all his common sense, thoroughly agreed 
with him. "We are now quiet in Winter Quarters," he wrote 
from Albany, " & nothing stirring worth writing about but 
what you'l hear particularly from Coll^ Johnston & Capt. 
Tirrell. All Indian storys from the One & Our March &c 
from the other. Shall we never hear more from England I 
am more and more surprized every day and am affraid now 
these New York Ships will be gone before the Letters arrive 
that were sent by the Fleet which will be a great baulk to me, 
as there will be no opportunity after that to answer any letters 
for some time. Pray write me your tho'ts about expedition 
affairs now. I reckon you'l be able to learn a good deal when 
Admiral Warren arrives. I was much surprised after so great 
expectations raised about it to see the Representation from the 
Assembly so very poor a performance, silly, trifling, & no Sort 
of Spirit in it. The Governour's speech I was perfectly pleased 
with which is saying all I can ; only I wish this Representation 
may have such an Answer as it deserves. ..." 



A Colonial Politician 155 

Such being his sentiments and those of many of his friends, 
Colden would have been astonished had any one told him that 
he had really been assisting Delancey. Yet this was probably 
true. It was said that at the time of CHnton's arrival Delancey 
had promised to help Warren to the chief magistracy. Then 
Warren had got something better, and had promised in turn to 
help Delancey get the lieutenant-governorship, at least, for 
himself. This having been obtained, Chnton was to be dis- 
credited at home and driven to resign. But this plan, which 
was of gradual growth, was not easy of accompUshment. Clin- 
ton had many strong friends in England, and the very simphcity 
of his character made him a bad opponent. Scarcely had 
Delancey discovered this, however, when Chnton made his 
opening speech in Colden 's easily recognized style, and the 
solution of the problem at once became easier. Colden should 
be led on to make both the governor and himself ridiculous, 
while at the same time Colden should be blamed for everything 
that went wrong, and the governor commiserated on his prime 
minister. This, indeed, would be killing two birds instead of 
one, for Colden was quite right in thinking himself the object 
of considerable jealousy. After all, he was the governor's right- 
hand man and his legal successor, and it was but likely that he 
was using his postion to petition the ministry for his advance- 
ment. 

But the game with the assembly was over for the year, for win- 
ter was at hand. There remained the council. Colden 's con- 
duct in that body since his return had been irreproachable. He 
had never lost his temper ; he had never forgotten his duty ; he 
had kept the governor's secrets even on cross-examination, with 
exasperating completeness. Such rampant virtue was intoler- 
able and on the 4th of December the crisis came.^ Some time 
before there had been published an account of the treaty with 
> N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 327-340. 



156 Cadwallader Colden 

the Indians, and on this particular morning Colden had no 
sooner entered the council room than the chief justice pro- 
duced a copy, and moved that the prints be sent for, and that 
he be asked to tell who had arranged for its pubUcation. Mur- 
ray seconding the motion, Delancey turned to Colden as if by 
an after-thought, and asked him had it been he. Colden looked 
round the room. He saw that the full council was present, an 
unusual event; he observed a general air of expectation and 
readiness ; and he felt, even more than he saw, that something 
was in the wind. Then, his momentary hesitation over, he 
said that he had given the paper with the governor's approval. 
Delancey asked if he had ordered it printed. Colden rather 
inconsequently repeated that he had given the printer the copy. 
Delancey repeated his question, and added that, if he did not 
answer, the printer would be brought. Colden, seeing there 
was no way out, admitted that he had given directions to print 
it, and later even acknowledged its authorship. The para- 
graph in question read in substance as follows : " His Excel- 
lency having received his Majesty's commands to engage the 
Indian nations in the expedition against Canada, and being 
sensible of the difficulties that probably might arise . . . was 
desirous of having had the assistance of as many of the members 
of his Majesty's council as possible . . . but all declined to go 
. . . except Mr. Colden and Mr. Livingston, . . . with Captain 
Rutherford . . . then at his post in Albany." All this was true, 
yet when Colden said that he had actually written the paragraph, 
Horsmanden moved, in a set speech, that it be censured as an 
" invidious, maUcious, and false representation of facts." Colden 
objected that a refusal to attend the conference might be as 
excusable as an acceptance, and the fact remained. Horsman- 
den hotly exclaimed that this was sophistry, and was proceed- 
ing to debate the whole question when Colden reminded them 
all that he was sitting as chairman of a legislative body, and that 



A Colonial Politician 157 

they had better show him decent respect and discuss the matter 
some other time as privy councillors. Delancey, however, 
muttered something about the power of the Lords over the privy 
councillors and the Commons, and, ignoring Horsmanden's 
motion, moved that the paragraph contained a misrepresenta- 
tion of facts, and an invidious reflection on members of the 
council. The question was carried, the proceedings were or- 
dered printed, and the meeting adjourned. 

Four days later a detailed account of the debate appeared 
in the New York Post-boy, and the same week Colden left for 
Coldengham. The same week, moreover, a description of the 
situation was started on its way to Newcastle, with a prayer 
for Horsmanden's dismissal from the council, Alexander's 
restoration to the same, Philip Livingston's removal as Indian 
commissioner, and Colden 's promotion to the lieutenant- 
governorship as the fitting reward of his zeal and loyalty. 
Whether or not the council surmised that he would resort to 
such a course, Colden was scarcely gone when certain of its 
members presented the governor with a document recounting 
the misdemeanours of his chosen adviser, and solemnly warning 
him of his probable aim. It was he who had refused to go to 
Albany, while they had merely desired to be excused from going ; 
it was he who, having been prevailed upon to go, had persuaded 
the governor to keep the proceedings of the council at that place 
a secret, and had refused to tell the governor's orders to Roberts ; 
it was he who had maintained that the council of three at Albany 
was the council itself, and not a committee thereof; it was he 
who had promised to submit certain papers to the council and 
then withheld them; it was he who had advised the unusual 
method of delivering the speech at the opening of the assembly ; 
it was he who had advised the speech itself; it was he who had 
"told the world in print, that he was the next person to his 
Excellency in the administration," thus furnishing a clue to his 



158 Cadwallader C olden 

policy; it was of him there could be told many "other little 
instances of vanity calculated principally with a view to raise 
a character," and in general, it was he who, since he had ceased 
attending his own domestic affairs in the country, had brought 
about such a change in the relations between governor and 
legislature.^ 

This representation was dated December 10, 1746, but when 
Clinton wrote to Colden on the 17th, he said nothing of it. He 
was writing to ask Colden to answer the Board of Trades' 
annual catechism for him, and having despatched his business, 
concluded as follows: "I have advices from Govr Shirley that 
the New England troops are all marching towards the frontiers 
of this Province for the Reduction of Crown Point unless the 
Small pox prevents which I have acquainted Govr Shirly still 
prevails among us . . ." But if Clinton did not consider the 
assembly's latest performance of supreme importance, there 
were others who did. "As soon as I heard of the representa- 
tion," wrote Archibald Kennedy, on December 22nd, "which 
was not till after they had been with the Govr, I desired Mr. 
Catherwood that our friend might have the perusal of it, who 
tho't the best way would be for the Govr. at present to take no 
notice of it, either to them or at home, at least till he had your 
observations upon it, which it is possible may still reach Mr. 
Catherwood, Waddel being at a loss for hands. He thinks it 
one of their best performances designed ChieJBy to prevent the 
consequences of His Excelly's resentment at home. We have 
had but one Council since you left us upon an express from 
Shirly. . . . This thing is not to be printed, where it was 
hatched you may guess, but it was licked into shape at the 
Cart and horse where I hear they had many meetings." 

Owing possibly to nothing more avoidable than the severe 
weather of that winter, Colden himself did not receive the rep- 

* First Collection of Public Papers (Colden Correspondence), 172 7-1 763. 



A Colonial Politician 150 

resentation from Clinton until the 15th of January, 1747, 
though the despatch was dated many weeks earlier. But he 
lost no time in preparing his defence. "I have been so much 
hurried in drawing an answer to the representation so as that 
it may reach his Excellency before Stratford's snow goes," he 
wrote to Kennedy on the i8th, "and to make fair copies that I 
am affray'd of some omissions or inaccuracies as well as from 
the warmth it may be supposed that performance must give me 
& therefor I beg of you to wait immediately on his Excelly and 
tell him that I desire you may have the perusal of it and to show 
it to our friend. After which I submit to his Excellency and 
your opinions what use is to be made of it. I am persuaded 
they will send it the Representation home from themselves with 
perhaps something more than they now discover and therefor 
I think we ought to be as much as possible upon our Guard, 
for I am far from thinking their view is only defensive. ..." 
This reply to the attack of his fellows, addressed as theirs 
had been, to the governor, contained at least three statements 
open to criticism. In the first place. Golden says that he was 
not in the council, but on a visit to his daughter, when the Al- 
bany delegation was discussed, and that his objections to going 
were made afterward in a private conversation. In view of his 
own letter this is a curious lapse of memory, and one hard to 
understand, when his presence was so easily susceptible of 
proof. In the second place, when explaining his secrecy in 
regard to Glinton's orders to Roberts, he said he thought it 
inexpedient to confide military details to a non-military body 
one or two hundred miles from the army. Then remembering 
that the body who had passed on all these details was by many 
considered but a committee of this same council, and that he 
himself was accused of calling it the council itself, he added 
that he had not been questioned as chairman, and that he would 
not have considered the questions pertinent anyway, as the 



i6o Cadwallader C olden 

governor might very possibly tell him, the second in command, 
many things he would wish no other to know. Thirdly, he re- 
minded Clinton that he had not approved his plans, only ad- 
vising what he desired, and that Clinton himself had lately 
seemed conscious that his troubles sprang from the first advice 
he had received. With these exceptions, he answered his 
detractors well, with dignity, and with logic, capping his argu- 
ment by an inquiry into the vanity they had descried in his 
telUng "the world in print" of his position. This was another 
reference to his account of the Indian treaty. As we have seen, 
one day when Clinton was ill, Colden had spoken to the Indians 
for him, and both on that occasion and in his description thereof 
he had called himself, "the next person in the Administration" 
to the governor. The council had not permitted themselves 
to reflect on this heinous statement, but they had suggested 
that the governor consider whether it were not to "this person's " 
interest to "imbroil your Excellency's afifairs and distract your 
administration." But Colden, though confessing his share of 
vanity, " a weed which is observed to grow luxuriously in an 
American soil," failed to see how his characterization of himself 
had done anything but show respect to the Indians and give 
greater weight to what he had said. He had printed it merely 
because he was printing everything that had happened, and it 
was difficult to see how his vanity could be increased by telUng 
what every one knew before. 

But, notwithstanding his superior logic, Colden was alarmed 
and had been so ever since, in the previous November, he had 
observed a tendency on the part of the governor's late oppo- 
nents "to make their court to him [Clinton] though in a very 
odd manner." He had even written twice to engage the good 
offices of George Clarke, and had accompanied his formal reply 
to the council by this personal appeal to Clinton: "I believe 
your justice & natural compassion would lead you to defend 



A Colonial Politician i6i 

& support a stranger attacked in the manner I am by these 
Gentlemen. Yet I presume on something more in this case 
from your Excellency's generosity. Your Excellency knows 
how far it was from being by my own desire to medle more with 
the publick affairs at that time than I had formerly don during 
the preceding part of your Excellency's administration but that 
I entirely took the part you was pleased to put upon me at your 
own earnest desire tho' at the same time the sense I had of my 
Duty made me more easily comply when I saw your Excellency 
necessarily engaged in a multiplicity of unexpected affairs of 
great consequence to his Majesty's service & so far deprived 
of the assistance of others whos Duty it was to assist you that 
their endeavours seem'd to be calculated to perplex you in your 
administration and to make use of these difficulties to wrest the 
reigns of Government out of your hand and with this in view 
did all in their power to expose your reputation and to lessen 
you in the eyes of the People. Your Excellency may remember 
that I was apprehensive enough of the haughty & insolent Spirit 
of some men but indeed I did not apprehend that Pride & re- 
sentment would have made some of them descend to attack in- 
nocence with the neglect or rather subversion of everything that 
is accounted honourable among Gentlemen. But upon Recol- 
lection of what has passed in former times I am convinced that 
I had not then that precaution which I ought to have had. For 
these very same men — I mean the leaders — formerly at- 
tempted the same thing but the bad success of their attempts 
at that time I was in hopes would have deterr'd them from the 
hke attempts for the future. I am now convinced that what is 
in nature can never be driven out nor amended. Your Excel- 
lency no doubt perceives what reason I have to wish that I had 
continued in the innocent amusements I enjoyed in my retire- 
ment. I had just return'd to them when I had them again inter- 
rupted by this extraordinary representation. I shall endeavour 



1 62 Cadwallader C olden 

as soon as possible to free my thoughts from this disagreable 
subject and return to my usual conversation with men whose 
endeavours all their life was to discover & establish the truth." 

If Colden's defamation was long in reaching him, his defence 
travelled fast, and Kennedy wrote but four days after the date 
of the final draught: ^ "I received yours of the i8th, and did 
as you bid me. Your answer was thought a Httle too warm 
and that about the Covers giving up too much of his power 
fitter for A private advice than to appear in pubUck. However, 
I was of opinion it should goe to Mr Catherwood but not to goe 
out of his hands and only to use such extracts as may be thought 
necessary. You will I believe have time enough to soften things 
and leave that part out before next ship by Stratford. The 
Governour is not very well and I believe has not read it, the Ship 
being to sail at 2 o'clock. We have no manner of newes besides 
that the Bostonians seem to press the expedition against Crown 
Point which is absolutely impracticable this winter. I hope 
we shall see the 3d of March." And on February 9th he had 
this to say: "I am glad we hitt upon the proper use of your 
answer, as the Covernour never read it being at that time much 
out of order, and Hilton just upon goeing. I should think a 
copy for him to make what use he pleased of it (by Stratford it 
cannot goe, for he will certainly sail in a day or two) would not 
be amiss. We have had but one Council I think since you left us, 
the subject at least of our meetings has only been about sending 
off the french prisoners and attacking Crown point, which we 
have reported, according to our opinion impracticable this 
winter, at one of those committees Mr. Hn. made a discovery 
of which he was not a little fond, vizt. In the minutes it was 
inserted 'This day His Excellency laid before the Council the 
transactions at Albany read, and ordered to be entered on the 
minutes ' and a few days agoe, after making our report Mr. Mr 

» January 23, 1746/7. 



A Colonial Politician 163 

[Moore] moved for a Commitee to enquire upon oath how that 
minut came there, they imagine I suppose it was either you or 
the Gov" ordered it parturiunt monies. — You see the spirit 
still subsists, But as you have put your hand to the plough give 
me leave to add two or three more Latin words tu ne cede malis, 
sed contra audientio rito. I hope we shall see you some time 
before the assembly sitts. Mr. Shirley it is said is agoeing home. 
Mrs. Murray very sick from cold catched at an assembly where 
Miss and Mr CUnton mett with indifferent treatment, upon 
which account I hear Capt Scot is out at Court. His affair with 
Miss Montgomerie amuses the young folks and further this 
deponeth saith not." 

It was, indeed, very evident that, if Golden 's friends had any- 
thing to say about it, the plough was not to be left standing alone 
just yet. "Yours of the loth inst. I was favoured with by en- 
sign McGlaghry," wrote Rutherford on January 18, 1747, 
"and I assure you whatever you and I may think of Albany 
'twould surprise you how cheerfully we pass our time. GolP 
Roberts is gone to New York but we've still Messrs Wrexall, 
Honeyman, Galhoun and Gapt. Gampbel Gommdt of the three 
Maryland Gompanys who is a very good Sort of man. I really 
think there has happened nothing at New York to give you the 
least uneasiness imaginable, for when A Man's Character is 
unjustly aspersed, 'tis the Slanderer only Suffers in the opinion 
of Every Man whose opinion is worth regarding. I have 
letters of the 25th October from London & which is odd not a 
word of our Expedition. We have been amused likewise with 
Mr. Waldo & his forces comeing from New England but not a 
word of them now, how matters will turn out God knows how- 
ever I wish you were at New York as soon as you possibly can be 
with any convenience to yourself, as theres often no forseeing 
Changes and as you've put your hand to the plouw you must 
keep it goeing, besides 'tis allwayes dangerous to do business by 



164 Cadwallader Colden 

halfs and allwayes safest to go thro' with it with spirit. As to 
my own affairs I continue of the same mind as we talked at 
parting 'tis certainly the best Scheme. I think His Excellency 
after all that's past now can't refuse you a favour tho' 't will 
be allwayes doubtfull if you're not present when 't is in his 
power." And again :^ "I am glad to see by yours of the 
nth Inst I have now the favour of that you are returned to 
New York. I wish you had passed the winter there for among 
many other things relating to our Forces here think the Govern- 
our very ill advised in not allowing us to assist the New England 
troops against Crown Point. The winter proved extremely 
favourable for such an attempt & the troops very healthy and 
in good Spirits & wanting nothing but Indian shoes and stock- 
ings & some of them waist coats which could have been all got 
here in two or three days time, I 'm in great hopes by the first 
sloops now to hear from you the Contents of The Boston Packet 
which, no doubt, will a little clear up the darkness we're now 
involved in. I don't write His Excellency for leave to come 
down as I could not be in New York without being in Council, 
and if he incUned to have me there, to be sure he would let me 
know it ; I did not trouble him with any letters this winter, there 
being nothing worth while but what It was the duty of His 
Lieutenant Colls, to inform him of & by what's past I know well 
he would have more regard to their accounts of things than 
mine. Pray what's to be done with the Pensilvania, Maryland 
& Virginia companys not yet Regimented ? Who do you think 
will be impowered to name their Field officers. If Governour 
Clinton could be prevailed on, upon your Account to annex my 
Company to them I would press hard for the Coll'* commission 
as I am assured by Governour Shirley & Governour Thomas 
that they'l doe me what Service they can & I think I can depend 
on their friendship if 't is either in their power to do or to recom- 

' March 27, 1747. 



/ 



A Colonial Politician 165 

mend ... if you find anything can be done in the above or in 
our former project that requires my being at New York 'tis 
easy for you to desire the Governour to send me a line. I don't 
Uke this Scheme of the Bostoners sending 1200 men more to 
Annapolis Royal especially as they send ColU T wight's Regi- 
ment with Colli Waldo's, which regiments would have been 
properest of any they have to assist us against Crown Point 
I'm sorry we shan't have the benefit of Mr. Lidius for A Guide 
& to assist in Managing the Indians that may go along with us 
in case we should march, as he'l be obUged to follow his Regi- 
ment being a Major and Capt. in Mr. Waldo's Regiment, he 
is only sent back now from Boston to assist Mr. Johnstown in 
sending out Scalping partys, . . ." 

CUnton himself, moreover, followed up his reassuring reply 
to Colden's appeal by the following: "As the time draws nigh 
for business your friends woud be glad to see you in towne 
particularly myself & should be glad you would come as soon 
as you can conveniently, standing much in need of your assist- 
ance, I have had several hints given me how things might go 
easier if I did so and so but I have rejected it with disdain. I 
was always brought up in the Principell of Honour and you may 
depend on it Sir I never promiss but I keep my words." ^ 

"I am exceedingly sorry," ^ Colden repHed, "that the season 
at this time renders it impracticable to travil either by land or 
Water; otherwise I should have shown what regard I have to 
your Excellency's commands by the most speedy obedience. All 
the Brooks have been so high that the Bridges in most places are 
carried away and the hollowness of the Ground from the frost 
makes travelling on horseback exceedingly dangerous till the 
ground settles. The River is not as yet passable from the ice. 
But both these obstructions I hope will soon be removed & I 

* February 20, 1746/7. ' February 23. 



i66 Cadwallader Colden 

expect it will be as soon practicable to go by water as by land so 
that I hope in ten day's or a fortnight's time of doing my duty 
at New York. I am of opinion that it may be advisable to pro- 
long the Assembly further for a fortnight because I beheve busi- 
ness will go heavily till we have some news from England relat- 
ing to this province's affairs neither can a sufficient number be 
expected to meet at this time. ... If Your Excell^ have other 
reasons (than provisions for the new levies) for meeting them 
early I can give no opinion but that I doubt not of your Excelly's 
forming a proper judgment if you place no confidence where you 
have all the reason in the world not to do it. They have a very 
erroneous opinion of your Excellency's understanding who think 
they can persuade you to trust them who have abused your con- 
fidence in the most gross manner and after the strongest obliga- 
tions that could be laid on men and even to condescend to such 
an abject confidence in those people as to put it out of your power 
afterwards to receive in any case assistance from any other 
person. The attempt to persuade your Excellency to this can 
only proceed from the weakness of their Judgment accompanied 
with an excessive vanity in their opinion of themselves." 

IV 

Colden arrived in town during the second week of March, 
and in the third week the assembly met. The governor's 
speech was simple and his demands few. He wanted presents 
for the western Indians, he wanted hearty concurrence in the 
Crown Point expedition, with all that that impHed; and in a 
supplementary message he asked for one hundred scouts for 
the northern frontiers. But in the face of the information, sug- 
gestions, advice which the council had lavished, Colden had been 
recalled and was once more to be allowed to direct the adminis- 
tration. Clinton must be made to suffer for his temerity. 



A Colonial Politician 167 

Further supplies for the volunteers, still dawdling about Albany, 
were voted, and the governor got his scouts and £150 for an 
Indian treaty ; but for the first time on record his speech went 
unanswered; the "Address" was omitted. This, Golden said 
afterward, was "like an inferior's refusing to return the com- 
pliment of the hat." ^ Yet his opponents were only getting their 
hands in. Their next achievement was a petition, in which, out 
of deference for their up-country brothers, they called on Clinton, 
to use some of the volunteers as a corps of rangers for the pro- 
tection of the wretched inhabitants of the county of Albany. 
Then, with some unpleasant remarks on the previous disposition 
of the new levies, they asked a recess. 

This was too much, and Golden let himself go in a general 
vindication of the governor's conduct.^ At first, he contented 
himself with controverting the assembly's statements, but in 
conclusion he traced the prevailing obstructive spirit back to the 
time when the father of the chief-justice had blocked Burnet's 
beneficial schemes ; he showed how the same greed had since 
hurt the province; and in proof of its present strength he quoted 
a message from the French governor to the Iroquois urging their 
neutrahty and promising, from his pity of their Albany brethren, 
to turn his Indians "on their most inveterate enemies of New 
England." An answer to its request for a recess was promised 
when the assembly had indicated how they were going to care for 
the colony. This, of course, was in Clinton's name, but the 
assemblymen could scarcely wait to compile another manifesto 
in order to denounce the man whom they knew to be its author. 
This representation, "brought into the Assembly, read, en- 
grossed, and presented to the Governor within the space of 
two hours," placed all their infeHcities to the account of the 
person who was honoured by his confidence, a person obnoxious 

* Correspondence, Remarks after May 25, 1747. 
" Assembly Journals, II, 256. 



1 68 Cadwallader C olden 

to the house. It told, besides, of all the assembly had given 
Clinton and of the bad use which he had made of it ; and it de- 
clared a complete lack of faith in the Massachusetts plan, and 
avowed the decision of its authors to wait for experienced 
leaders from England. 

But CUnton had had enough for a while, and threatening to 
tell the king of their conduct he granted a second request for 
adjournment. The adjournment, however, was but brief. 
About a month before, that is, on the 29th of April, 1747, word 
had arrived that the garrison of Fort Clinton was Ukely to desert 
in a body for want of pay ; and this had been followed on the 
30th by a despatch saying that one hundred and twenty men 
had already gone.* The volunteers, indeed, with the exception 
of their £9 enlistment bounty, had not had a penny since they 
entered the service the preceding summer. Clinton had as 
yet shown no anxiety to draw those bills of exchange which 
later were said to have made his fortune, and insisted on wait- 
ing for directions from England. Unfortunately, as he waited, 
the good people of Albany caught the ears of the soldiers, and 
some one had said that he who would take Canada must first 
take that snug Dutch town. But now the council took up the 
matter. They advised the governor to draw on the English 
government for full pay for the officers, for 40s. down for each 
private and for 2s. a month apiece until they received their en- 
tire due.'' Time was necessary, however, to haggle with the mer- 
chants about the rate of exchange, and meanwhile things grew 
worse. The men were all mutinous. It was impossible to get a 
reenforcement for Saratoga. Albany was full of rumours. It was 
said the soldiers were not under martial law while unpaid, and 
that the governor had no orders to pay them ; it was said again 

« For an account of the mutiny, see N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 357-359. 363-364. 

and 375-377- 

* Proceedings of the Executive Council, April 30, 1747. 



A Colonial Politician 169 

that he had such orders and was disregarding them. The Penn- 
sylvania troops, Dutch themselves, were told that if they took 
half pay, Clinton could make them soldiers for life; the Jerseymen 
said that if Clinton paid them at all, they would be under him, 
and refused to take anything whatever from him. Moreover, 
when the colonel of these Jersey troops heard this, he promised 
them full pay and gave it despite the remonstrances of CUnton 
and of President Hamilton, his immediate superior. This made 
every soldier in the place desert, or threaten to, if they were not 
paid in full at once, while a council of field officers advised Clin- 
ton to yield, advice which was seconded by his own council. 
But with the fatal attraction for the wrong course, which had 
marked his administration, he refused to draw longer at his own 
risk and called the assembly. But the assembly also refused 
either to advance a penny or to stand security for the governor's 
bills, and added that his attitude showed a lamentable distrust of 
the king, whose intention to pay for the expedition was evident. 
Thus, doing perforce what he might have done with grace, 
CHnton wrote to Roberts that he would pay in full, and on the 
1 8th of June, he himself started for Albany. 

This time Colden was left behind. The situation of his 
estate and the more subtle activity of his enemies had made it 
an anxious spring for him, and he was glad of a slight respite : 
"I am at this time so deeply engaged in pubUck affairs by the 
news of a Mutiny among the Forces at Albany," he had written 
Mrs. Colden on May 2d, "that I have scarce a moment to my- 
self. The Governor had resolved yesterday before we were 
inform'd of the heighth this Mutiny is got to to appoint one of 
my sons Muster Master. I design it for Cadwallader and he 
must be ready to go to Albany as soon as his commission & 
orders come to his hands." And again four days later: "As 
the Mutiny continues and increases at Albany and they threaten 
to march home & perhaps some of them are gon by this time 



170 Cadwallader C olden 

and as you are now on the road they may take I think it advis- 
able and must insist on your going to your son Alexander's . . . 
& you can if you think proper come down with the children to 
this town. The rest we must leave to Providence. ... I know 
you are not of that timorous temper to take what I write in such 
manner as to do anything without an appearance of its being 
proper. ..." 

Another anxiety was the exasperating silence of the home gov- 
ernment, which, bombarded with questions and petitions as it 
had been, had yet never vouchsafed a line since the letter direct- 
ing the expedition. This was a fine example of the "wise 
neglect of Walpole and Newcastle."* "Not one word of news 
from England yet. The last express from Albany gives us 
hopes that things will be pacified there," wrote Golden on May 
12th. And again a week or so later: "It is surprising that not 
one word should at this time be heard from the Ministry, but as 
this is not in our power to help we must bear it with patience ; 
but it lays us under great difficulties how to act." Colden's 
private information, moreover, was not especially reassuring. 
"The Governor's conduct in the Treaty the year before [1745] 
has been represented here in no favourable Light," Golden 's 
London friend, Peter Gollinson, had written in March. "But 
now you are thought fitt to be admitted in his Gouncils wee are 
persuaded if he will submitt to your advice it will give a favour- 
able Turn to his Future administration," But he added: "In 
yours of December 3d you hint the extraordinary Trouble & 
Expense you have been at in attending the Governr and publick 
Business. To be sure you ought to be considered. If there is 
any vacant place in yr Governmt Deserving yr or yr son's ac- 
ceptance your Governor's Recommending you to the Duke of 

' Lecky's " American Revolution," p. 8. Edmund Burke had already 
called this neglect salutary ; see Walpole 's " Memoirs of the Reign of King 
George the Third," II, 50. 



A Colonial Politician 171 

Newcastle may be of service; but if you are recommended to 
the Duke for Him to do something for you, without telling Him 
and yr Frds Here, what it is no good. Such recommendation 
is only a thing of course and will all come to nothing. If your 
Governor is not a Courtier he is a Kin to those that are and Ex- 
pectation of Something but nobody knows what is the extraordi- 
nary recompense they bestow on those that Serve them. I 
shall not be awanting when you have Really Something to ask 
that is vacant that will be of service to you and your Family 
in giveing you all mine and my Frds Interest." 

At home, as we know, the assembly were still troubling. 
"There is another maHcious paper printing from the Assembly," 
Golden informed his wife toward the end of May, "but don't 
trouble yourself about it. It can hurt neither the Govr nor me 
with any considerate person but evidently discovers what sort of 
men the Authors of it are and will contribute to bring all our 
Disputes to a more speedy conclusion. At the same time it 
makes me more desirous to be here when the News comes from 
England which we have all the reason in the world to expect 
cannot be long. . . ." "I'm heartily glad I've now found out 
A certain New Acquaintance's designs," wrote Rutherford about 
the same time, "while I looked on him as my friend and As I'm 
but too apt to trust I own he stumbled me a Uttle, tho' I never 
could believe half his insinuations of your Character, your ex- 
pressions of me & of your designs of keeping me & others at a 
distance from the Governour in order to have his whole ear. I 
hope and expect you'l now have as little regard to what he says 
on one side as I have on the other, for its plain his only design 
has been to create a difference, instead of which I dare say 
't will have the quite contrary effect. ... I wrote you in my last 
that discipline was at least as much wanted, but now unless we 
get Commanding Officers from home tis in vain to think of it, 
but while I write this perhaps the affair's all over. . . ." 



172 Cadwallader C olden 

It was shortly before this that the administration had been 
obliged to recall the prorogued assembly. "There is something 
unlucky in our public affairs to prevent my returning home," 
Colden sadly announced/ "The Govr is not well in his health 
& the troops are again mutinying at Albany even so far as to 
threaten to plunder the Country if they have not their whole 
pay. Till these things are settled it is so far from being proper 
for me to return that I am resolv'd if I do not see that things 
are like to be put into a better state at Albany to send for you 
& the children to this place. As to this, I hope to be deter- 
min'd in two or 3 days at furthest either by the Resolutions the 
Assembly should take or by news from England for we hear 
that a Packet lay ready at Porthsmouth for Boston & waited 
only for the Despatches to be sent from Court. The Assembly's 
last representation does them no service in this place & people 
are generally dissatisfied with it & I believe the Assembly will 
see that the people are so before it be long. The mutiny con- 
tinuing at Albany has occasioned the Assembly to meet again 
upon Business." "I can assure you my Dear nothing gives 
me any kind of uneasiness but my concern for you," he wrote 
the next day: adding, "all the little malice which has appeared 
does not in the least affect me. I am as cheerful as ever as I 
know that events are not in my power and I hope to submit to 
them with a cheerful mind. This day a letter came from Mr. 
Harison at Philad'f that the Capt of a privater who was sent 
out to cruise on the coast writes that he had Spoke with a Ship 
boun on to Virginia who said he had parted with Admiral 
Warren on the banks of Newfoundland with six men of war and 
40 transports." 

"I have at last resolv'd," he said in a letter written nearly 
two weeks later, "to wait the return of an express which 
set out yesterday for Albany and is to return with all speed 

• June 2, 1747. 



A Colonial Politician 173 

after having made the Govr's resolution known of paying 
the whole on certain conditions which if comply'd with must 
put an end to all the disorders there and quiet the country for 
the future. And you must keep yourself and the children in 
readiness to come away for this place in case you have any ac- 
count of the mutineers marching downwards from Albany for 
they have openly threatened to take their pay in plunder wher- 
ever they go and if once they begin such kind of work none can 
tell what other outrages they may be guilty of. The only doubt 
which now remains is whether they will entirely comply with 
the conditions proposed. If they do not the Governor cannot 
justify his paying them anything and certainly will not what- 
ever be the consequence. I send Cad his commission and he 
must hold himself in readiness to go up about a week hence at 
which time he will receive his instructions & I expect to bring 
them myself and give him what further private advice may be 
necessary. The Govr has received an address from the Cor- 
poration of New York City with comphments to him on his 
Administration an account of which I expect will be in the news- 
papers & has made a good deal of talk in the Town being so 
very different from what comes from the Assembly. What is 
remarkable in this address is that it comes from the Magistrates 
chosen by the People annually and the Mayor who is appointed 
by the Govr went out of town and did not attend and they in 
the opposition made the Deputy Mayor drunk so that he could 
not attend the common Council at the time they had agreed to 
deliver their address. ..." 

The report of the express was such that, as has been said, 
the governor set out almost at once for Albany, Colden having 
left for home twenty-four hours previously. His vacation, how- 
ever, was to be short. In less than three weeks the following 
letter from Clinton called him back to the fight: "I have had 
the devil & all to pay here with the new Levyes & Indians," 



174 Cadwallader C olden 

he wrote from Fort Frederick on July 7, 1747. "As to ye 
first it was but last Monday that I could get the Captains into 
any manner of agreement Severall insisting that I had received 
orders from home to pay them, that ye first two months Musters 
was their due according for ye rules of ye Army & abundance 
more, Honeyman at the head, they are at last convinced & are 
preparing their Muster Rolls for payment, but when I sett out 
is uncertain, but intend as soon as possible I can in order to 
meet ye Assembly in order [to] engage our neighbours to drive 
ye French back," he continued, " & if possible to take or demol- 
ish Crown Point." 

"Coll. Johnson came down last Thursday & with him Lucas, 
Moses & about 20 more Indians, who spoke to me ye next day 
cheafly insisting to know ye meaning why the Army is not ar- 
rived as I assured them last meeting, that I have drawn them 
into an Indian War & they did not see any Force I have to save 
them from being destroyed by their inveterate Enemies ye 
French & their Indians & a great deal more, which I was to 
answer on Saturday, but hearing Hendrick was coming down 
I deferred it to hear what he had to say & answer them at once, 
finding Henrick didn't come I sent an order to Captn Mackin- 
tosh to send a Guard with him & on Monday in ye afternoon 
he came with about 20 more, and yesterday morning I had 
about 30 of them in my little parlour just over ye Kitchen & a 
Monstrous hot day, they came about ^ past nine & did not 
leave me till nigh one. Coll. Johnson told me over night that 
Hendrick proposed to be very loud & speak very plainly to me, 
as if I had deceived them, upon Johnson & Stevens telhng him 
it would not be proper before the others, he promised not, but 
to tell me my own in privatt, but after I delivered my answer, 
notwithstanding his promise he began and was exceedingly 
angry indeed & very impertinent & I was hardly able to bear 
him, he call'd upon ye Mohawks & told them I had drawn 



A Colonial Politician 175 

them and him into ye War and that [when] he was come down 
to See ye Army instead of seeing, He found they were betrayed, 
that ye French no sooner proposed anything but they Sat about 
it, & then hit me in ye Truth of Sarahtoga & severall other 
things and our not making any head against this army, as for 
his part he would leave his Castle & take all his people with 
him, & so we parted in a sort of pett, I told him I was come 
up to settle the Army & to give him all ye Assistance I could & 
would have assistance from my Neighbours if I found there 
was occasion for it, but all did not signifie About six A Clock 
in ye evening Aeron Stevens came up to me to tell me Henrick 
wanted to speak with me in privitt. I told him as he had said 
in publick what he was to say to me in privitt I would have 
nothing to say to him but at last I thought it as well to hear 
what he had to say but ye scene was greatly changed for he was 
all good & we parted the best friends we ever was, and did 
everything but hug & kiss & he was quite sober as do them 
justice every one was, I was forced to fill ye Dog's pockett. 
They all leave now God be praised this afternoon & then I 
shall gett to my other affaires. I have given orders to Johnson 
to go directly to work to build a Fort at Canajoharie & this I 
ordered before Henrick asked it. . . ." "I have just received an 
Account that Connecticut Government has marched 400 men 
to their frontiers," he added in a postscript, " & New Hamp- 
shire 700 & Mr Shirley has ordered his Troops to assist us in 
case the Stroke should come this way, expecting ye same in re- 
turn & particularly to assist ye Mohawks with Men & build 
Forts for them at ye same time is endeavouring to fling all this 
upon me, something must be done soon & it is absolutely neces- 
sary for me to meet ye Assembly to recommend tho' I Don't 
expect much, tho it is absolutely necessary for them to do some- 
thing now or never, for we durst not pretend to send out any 
party unless a very strong one and we have not been able to get 



176 Cadwallader C olden 

any intelligence from Sarahtoga since these people went & most 
people are of an opinion that they are building a Magazine for 
Stores & Provisions for their sculking party s at carrying place. 
That what I have to say must require your assistance & I de- 
sire you will be at your son's house by the i6th inst/ when I 
shall call to take you in, it is unavoidable, I therefore desire 
you will not fail. ..." 



So it happened that together CUnton and Colden journeyed 
back to the capital, where once more they were to oppose all 
that was influential in its political life, and of the two Colden 
was to be, as, indeed, he had been for more than a year, the re- 
sponsible member of the administration. His contemporaries, 
friends and enemies alike, were agreed that he was the source 
of executive activity, and he himself could but know that he 
was held accountable for everything the governor said or did. 
If, therefore, he ever yielded to Clinton, who sometimes had 
opinions of his own and was stubborn enough in pressing their 
adoption, he did so at his own risk and must still be considered 
responsible. Moreover, he has left sufficient proof that he com- 
posed the governor's official utterances, spoken or written. 
Rough drafts of CUnton's letters to the Duke of Newcastle, to 
the Duke of Bedford, to the Board of Trade, and of his speeches 
and messages to the general assembly, are scattered famiUarly 
through Colden's personal correspondence, written in Colden's 
neat, legible hand; while numerous allusions and directions 
and the identity in style between these letters and messages 
and the rest ascribed to Clinton during this period make their 
common origin certain. Not only the same ideas, but the same 
peculiarities of expression occur over and over again. For 

* At Newburgh. 



A Colonial Politician 177 

Colden believed in the virtue of repetition, and when month 
after month the conditions he was fighting remained almost 
unchanged, he found the old arguments perennially serviceable. 
That these would prevail in the colony without the aid of Eng- 
lish authority he had by this time no hope, so powerful was the 
Delancey interest; but he trusted that such aid would come 
through the Duke of Newcastle. He thought to win the duke's 
support, furthermore, not so much through the Pelham-Clintons 
as through his own tale of persecuted loyalty and his picture 
of the probable result, should the persecutors remain unchecked. 
Hence, though he did not neglect the Board of Trade, his most 
intimate petitions were reserved for the restless eye of the Sec- 
retary of State. But for some reason it was to the Board of 
Trade that he had just written one of these with particular 
satisfaction.* For, besides the usual prayer for his own ap- 
pointment as lieutenant-governor and the usual rehearsal of 
the situation, it contained a new suggestion for the solution of 
the New York problem. Delancey's commission, CUnton was 
made to say, could be withdrawn by mandamus under the 
signet and sign manual. Indeed, its validity was questionable. 
For, as in England, to change the tenure of an office required 
an act of ParHament, it was to be inferred that a legislative act 
of some sort was necessary to make a like change in the colonies. 
The change in the commission of the chief justice of New York, 
however, had been made by vote of the executive council only, 
on the governor's proposition. With little comment, Colden 
left these facts to make their own appeal. 

But it was now time for action. At least so the governor 
thought, and he laid before the council certain letters from 
Shirley to himself, urging the appointment of a commission to 
arrange an attack on the French by the combined forces of 
New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The council 
^ June 22, 1747, N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 352. 

N 



178 Cadwallader Colden 

expressed approval of such an attack, but, in order to save the 
time necessary for the organization of the commission, drew up 
a plan of their own. This included simultaneous assaults on 
the works at Crown Point and Niagara in early September, 
and CUnton was asked to inform the assembly that he proposed 
to put the volunteers into camp at once in preparation for an 
active fall campaign. He was also to request a subscription 
of ;i^i40o. But the assembly declared that it would be a breach 
of confidence to vote away the money of their constituents 
without further knowledge of the purpose to which it was to be 
devoted. To have satisfied them, Colden said later, would have 
made the proposed operations town talk in a few hours, Albany 
gossip in a few days, and familiar to the interested in Canada 
by the end of the week. Such a thing, he added, neither house 
of Parliament had ever asked. The assemblymen's curiosity, 
accordingly, remained unappeased, and on the 22d of August, 
1747, CUnton laid a paper before the council stating that a 
despatch from Shirley had brought word that the king had 
abandoned the Canadian expedition and that Shirley and Ad- 
miral Knowles were to muster out the volunteers ; that he could 
say nothing more, being enjoined to secrecy ; that he had said 
so much only because he feared the frontiers would be other- 
wise left defenceless ; and that, once and for all, he could no 
longer supply the Indians and the volunteers with provisions.* 
The paper was referred to a committee, and meanwhile the 
council formally addressed the governor, begging him to recon- 
sider the encamping of the forces, which had been posted north 
of the city of Albany, it being not yet a month since they had 
advised the encampment themselves. The governor passed over 
this annoying exchange of responsibihty with some general 
remarks, but when Horsmanden came from the committee to 
ask him why he could no longer provide for the army, he repUed 
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 667-673. 



A Colonial Politician 



179 



that he had spoken with sufficient authority and was accountable 
only to the king. As a matter of fact, Clinton had no good rea- 
son to give, though he afterward based his refusal on the pre- 
sumption of the council in questioning his decision and on their 
outrageous carelessness as well. For, despite his exhortations 
to caution, they had ordered copies of his paper made and dis- 
tributed to absent members and had met to discuss it at a 
common tavern. The committee then tried to get some informa- 
tion from those whom they described as "the Gentlemen having 
the honour to be most in his Excellency's confidence." But they 
proved elusive, and at length a report was compiled consisting 
mainly of a recital of the difficulties of its construction. Its 
manner, however, was insinuating, and it was full of open, if 
vague, criticism of the administration's pohcy. Yet there was 
much astonishment when, after it had been presented to the 
governor in council by Horsmanden, and before the governor 
had had time to put the question of its acceptance, Golden 
moved its rejection. This procedure was unprecedented, and 
during the debate that followed the governor was urged to 
follow the traditional rule. But he only said that he would 
consider it. This he was never known to do, and the report 
never got into the minutes. There seemed reason to many for 
saying that any report disagreeable to Mr. Golden would meet 
a like fate.* 

The I St of September was now come and nothing had been 
done except to appoint the commission suggested by Shirley. On 
the other hand, the Jerseymen in garrison at Saratoga were 
threatening to desert for want of provisions. The fort there, 
called after the governor himself, had been built by commis- 
sioners suggested to Glinton when he had been a complaisant 
novice in New York personalities. Wretchedly put together 
and poorly equipped, it had always been unpopular with the 

^ Committee of Council Report, August 26, 1747, in Colden Correspondence. 



i8o Cadwallader C olden 

soldiers, and by the administration was considered to have 
been badly located. The assembly, on the contrary, pretended 
much fondness for it, though their refusal to repair it, resulting 
in CHnton's refusal to reenforce it, had been the cause of its 
almost complete destruction in November, 1745. It had then 
been rebuilt, with an even greater disregard for good workman- 
ship, and now on hearing of its possible abandonment, the as- 
sembly besought Clinton to put New York volunteers, or even 
regulars, in place of the New Jersey deserters, themselves offer- 
ing to furnish the necessary provisions. Moreover, when he 
did not reply at once, they repeated their request, whereupon 
the governor announced, as he had announced to the council, 
that he was resolved not to charge another penny to the crown 
and that he would not send the regulars to a place where the 
volunteers often refused to go, and where the expense of frequent 
reliefs was always necessary, so unhealthy and ill-equipped was 
it known to be. He did not add that he had told Colonel 
Roberts to examine it thoroughly and burn it if he found it 
untenable. But he had said enough to prompt a resolution to 
issue another representation, and though he would have given 
much to dissolve the assembly and so postpone it at least, he 
did not dare. For the much-discussed commission was at last 
met in the city and it required an assembly to hear its report. 
He could only gain a brief respite by adjourning the existing 
assembly from day to day, meanwhile flinging defiance at the 
cabal by suspending Horsmanden and Bayard from the council, 
and Horsmanden from his other government employments as 
well. 

This deadlock was soon broken by the sad state of the Indians. 

During the summer Colonel Johnson had worked hard. "I 

assure Yr Excellcy," he had written on the 17th of July,* "I 

have done a great deal of service since I came home, having 

• For these letters see N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 386-391. 



A Colonial Politician i8i 

cleared up several points to them which has made all very easy, 
but chiefly abt our not destroying Crown Point, thereby to open 
a passage for them to Canada, which if done they say positively 
they would not leave a soul in Canada, but they would drive 
into Quebec and Montreal with very little of our assistance. 
I sent them home exceedingly well pleased, which is more than 
I expected could be done as affairs stand at present. I assure 
Yr Excellcy that they all promise very well and say they fear 
the failure will be on our side, for they are of opinion there will 
come more Warriors than we can supply or fit out ; but I hope 
that will not be the case, if it is, then the Country was ruined." 
And on the 4th of August he wrote: "It is with much difficulty 
I can get time to lay Pen to Paper, having my house and all my 
outhouses continually full of Indians of all the Nations and more 
of late so than ever ; there is not a day I can assure yr Excell*^ 
but I am obliged to sit five or six hours in their Company to 
hear what they have to say, and answer them in every point, 
but my satisfaction is, I can say my endeavours are not in vain 
as I find there will be no failure or delay on their side. . . . The 
best and most trusty of the Six Nations have by my solicitation 
wrought strongly upon the foreign Nations. ... As I must 
expect numbers upon this Call, it will be requisite that Yr 
Excell*^ provide in time whatever may be necessary for their re- 
ception and fitting out for they all expect to be supplied by me 
as being their Rendez-vous." Ten days later he says: ''Ihope 
Yr Excellency in Council will consider what a loss I sustain 
by supplying Oswego at this dangerous time, being obUged to 
give double the money now to the Men as usually paid (since 
that murder was committed at Burnet's Field) which is the 
Road to Oswego. I could not get a man to go with the provi- 
sions for any money, therefore, have been obliged to get some 
Indians lately at any extraordinary price to carry some Battoes 
there but now can get no more of either Kind to go there without 



i82 Cadwallader Golden 

a good guard." On the 19th he was at Albany to obtain the 
assistance of Colonel Roberts and Marshall in breaking up a 
nest of the enemy at Lake St, Sacrament, " from whence they 
daily send large parties among us who seldom fail of doing us 
mischief ... to prevent which I am determined (with the general 
approbation of all the Indians) to march against them with about 
300 Indians and as many Christians most of whom are volun- 
teers. In case we should meet with no success, it will never- 
theless satisfye the Indians, being chiefly their desire, it will 
also terrify the Enemy much to find such a number of men in 
quest of them. . . ." On the 28th he was "just setting off this 
instant for Lake Sacrament with 400 Christians mostly volun- 
teers and about as many Indians here present besides vast num- 
bers by the Road, who were met yesterday, by one of my people. 
He says for about 1 2 miles the Road was full of them . . . they 
have also as they tell me called upon all the Foreign Nations 
whom they expect every day ; upon which I left some people at 
home to fit them out with what necessarys they require, and 
send them after me . . . what will be done with them all after 
my return, which will be in about 12 days at farthest, I can't 
tell, having nothing left of any consequence for them, what 
would be worse, to let such a parcel of fine stout fellows go back 
again without employing them further, wherefore I hope Yr 
Excell"'' Council and Assembly will consider of it seriously 
before I return, otherwise I must assure Yr Exceir^ there will 
be no living for me, or any one else in this part of the world, 
which perhaps the Gentlemen in that part of the Country may 
be easy at, as it seems to all people here they are, by their back- 
wardness which, doubt not will be the entire ruin of the 
Country." 

But, as we have seen, the three branches of the legislature 
were not considering anything from a common point of view. 
And in the first week of October, Johnson, accompanied by some 



A Colonial Politician 183 

Mohawks, came down to New York in order to ask supplies 
for Indians who were actually starving. For a year, according 
to their promise made to the governor, they had hung around 
their castles, their hunting-grounds deserted, ready to be called on 
at any time. It seemed but just that they should be provided 
with what they had been prevented from providing themselves. 
Therefore, once more Chnton addressed the assembly, asking 
for money for the Indians, for frontier forts, and for all the de- 
mands springing from the scheme of attack that the commis- 
sioners were forming. The next day he presented the scheme 
itself, and, though the commissioners had voted and Shirley had 
written his opinion that the Indian alHance still depended on the 
crown, he again urged its maintenance by the colonists. Two 
days later the assembly resolved to execute their part of the 
plan : to provide for the protection of the northern frontier ; to 
deposit ;^8oo in safe hands for the support of Indian enthusi- 
asm ; to give presents to the visiting sachems, though the fate 
of the governor's warrants drawn for that purpose was a mys- 
tery ; to take part of the frontier army into pay, when it should 
be disbanded; and to send provisions to Saratoga. These 
resolutions were sent to the governor with a question. Had he, 
the assembly asked, complied with their request for the reen- 
forcement of Saratoga ? This was so far from being the case 
that in four days Saratoga was to be burned with his permis- 
sion. But he said nothing of this. Instead, he burst into the 
following message: "By your votes I understand you are going 
upon things very foreign to what I recommended you. I will 
receive nothing from you at this critical juncture, but what re- 
lates to the message I last sent you; namely, by all means 
immediately to take the preservation of the frontiers and the 
fidelity of the Indians into consideration. The loss of a day 
may have fatal consequences. When that is over, you may 
have time to go upon any other matters." 



184 CadwaUader Colden 

This manifest breach of the rights and privileges of house 
and people, as the assembly defined it, met heroic treatment. 
As soon as it had been read, the door of the assembly room was 
locked and the key laid on the table, after which significant 
action, resolutions * were drawn up declaring that the governor's 
adviser "had attempted to infringe their rights, Hberties, and 
privileges, violate the liberties of the people, and subvert the 
constitution of the colony and therefore was an enemy to its 
inhabitants." The next day the long-dreaded remonstrance 
was brought in, and, as CUnton afterward very truly said, in 
less time than it would have taken to read it over carefully, it 
arrived at the governor's door. According to CUnton, the com- 
mittee who had it in charge rushed headlong into the room 
where he was sitting, one member at once offering to read it 
aloud; whereas the committee maintained that they had been 
announced by a servant with due ceremony. However that 
may have been, Clinton refused to hear a word, or even to allow 
the document left for his private perusal, and the assemblymen 
departed as they had come. But as, in the answer to the resolu- 
tions of the assembly on the commissioners' plan and the re- 
strictive message of the 9th, the chief arguments of the remon- 
strance were met, the refusal to read it may be regarded as merely 
formal. This answer or message, and the remonstrance itself, 
are typical of the literary propaganda of the opposing factions, 
and their criticism will serve for many other effusions.^ 

The advantage of brevity appealed to neither of the two 
writers, and what wit there might be was lost in detail. But 
Colden's logic was stronger, his style more dignified, his sar- 
casm fresher. His repetitions are confined to statement and 
argument ; the champion of the assembly rides his little ironies 
to exhaustion. The administration claimed, indeed, that the 

1 Journals, etc., II, 173. N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 673-674. 
« Journals and N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 617-635. 



A Colonial Politician 185 

assembly's fulminations were meant for simple people or people 
ignorant of American conditions; that they did not aim to re- 
dress grievances but to make Enghshmen fear to take the gov- 
ernment, at the same time bidding for the support of a consider- 
able part of the population who had been bred in republican 
principles and in ignorance of the English constitution. The 
outburst in question struck at Colden specifically ; charged him 
with the destruction of the harmony prevailing that memorable 
June when he had come to town ; declared it to be a great mis- 
fortune that the governor had "fallen into such 111 Hands, that 
the Fate of this Colony should in this time of eminent Danger, 
depend solely upon the advice and caprice of a man so obnox- 
ious who by the whole course of his conduct seems to have only 
his own interest in view without any regard to the safety or 
Welfare of the Colony"; and assured Clinton that many of 
his charges had no other ground than "the wicked imagination 
and invention" of his trusted confidant. The remonstrance 
then arraigned the governor for his course as commander-in- 
chief of the army ; the contempt he evinced in his speeches for 
assembly and people; his short adjournments, involving loss 
of money and time; his jeers at the parsimony of the colony's 
representatives ; and his own enormous expenditures. Finally, 
it openly declared its approval of an Indian neutrality, and 
aflEirmed that the relations between the Mohawks and the 
Caughnawagas made it absurd to think the Iroquois would ever 
fight the French with spirit, and that three French scalps and 
a few French prisoners were the only visible result of the famous 
treaty. 

To prove that the administration was at least partly right in 
its claim that the assembly was not out for the redress of griev- 
ances, it is only necessary to compare this document with other 
remonstrances and petitions in which the representatives of a 
people have striven to right their wrongs. In comparison with 



1 86 Cadwallader C olden 

these it becomes mere petulance. The governor's speeches 
were full of angry scorn, but it was caused by the unexpected 
opposition of supposed inferiors ; he had adjourned the assembly 
daily for weeks at a time, but only to ward off a pubHc criticism 
of his administration which might first have been offered in 
private; he had drawn heavily on the crown, but it therefore 
belonged to the crown to ask an account ; his miUtary arrange- 
ments had not been faultless, but proof was lacking that the 
assembly's would have been better ; it was exasperating to call 
men who had given ;£7o,ooo to further England's plans parsi- 
monious because they refused to give what there was no reason 
for giving, but it was worse than exasperating for the assembly 
as a whole to oppose in public the administration's French 
poHcy and to afl&rm instead a poHcy acknowledged to be favour- 
able to the Canadians. There might be Uttle to show for the 
work of Johnson among the Indians, but, to use the argument 
of the doctors, no one could tell how much worse matters might 
have been without it, while it was the attitude of the council 
the preceding winter that had prevented the use of an oppor- 
tunity which would have demonstrated its efficiency. With no 
great issues, therefore, at stake, it was a situation that called 
for common sense, but neither side wanted to change their 
point of view for a moment or to see how easily their difficulties 
might be adjusted were they but wilUng. 

The governor's message, on the contrary, seemed designed to 
irritate. In Colden's stilted language Clinton gloated over the 
acceptance of the commission's plan, a plan closely resembhng 
that which he with Shirley and Warren had formed, and they 
had rejected the previous year ; he felicitated himself still more 
because the council at this late day had approved his scheme 
for frontier defence, and actually instructed the commissioners 
to build one or more forts at the carry ; he reminded them glee- 
fully that the year before these schemes would have been put 



A Colonial Politician 187 

through by the crown. The insinuations concerning his drafts 
on the home treasury, he went on, were outrageously false, and 
their authors knew it ; the House as a House was quite ignorant 
of the amount he had drawn, and the slightest curiosity could 
have discovered his expenditures. Some of these he mentioned, 
and then, in reference to the increduhty he had met with regard 
to the disbanding of the forces and to the assembly's importunity 
concerning Saratoga, he offered some information on his rights 
and privileges as commander-in-chief, incidentally scoring the 
jobbing of which Saratoga was a result. Finally, taking up 
the excited resolutions of October 9th, he asked some pertinent 
questions concerning their theatrical setting. "Why this 
farce?" he demands. "Was anyone trying to break in? Or 
did any of your members seem willing to run away ? Surely 
this was not the case. Was it then, to assume power to shut me 
out? If so, it was a high insult to his Majesty's authority. 
But, Gentlemen, how by my message did I encroach on your 
undoubted rights and privileges ? I told you what I would, or 
would not do, myself. Consider Gentlemen, by what authority 
you sit. You exist by virtue of the commission and instructions 
and yet you seem to place yourselves upon the same foundation 
with the House of Commons of Great Britain, and if I mistake 
not the resolves of the 9th assume all its rights and privileges. 
If so, you assume to be a branch of the Legislature of the King- 
dom and deny your dependence on the Crown and Parliament. 
If you have not their rights, the Giver of your authority can 
bound your rights at pleasure and I must now tell you that 
I have his Majesty's express commands not to suffer you to 
bring some matters into your House. ... In short. Gentlemen, 
I must tell you, that every branch of the Legislature and all of 
them may be criminal in the eyes of the law and there is a 
power able to punish you and will, if provoked. ..." Colden 
had been preaching sermons of this sort for nearly twenty years 



1 88 Cadwallader Golden 

but never to so large an audience, and the desire to improve 
the occasion to the utmost was irresistible. Still he was only 
speaking vicariously, and it was necessary to return to particu- 
lars. The disrespect that had been shown one of his station 
and family, the governor concluded, should be passed by, but 
never again would he receive their proceedings in public unless 
they had first been presented to him in private, never again 
would he sign a support bill that did not conform to his com- 
mission and instructions. 

The moral of these papers is evident. So far had the legis- 
lature secured for itself executive functions that it was almost 
independent. What the governor still did he had to pay for 
without its aid. Thus, neither had much hold on the other, 
and relief was only to be sought in mutual recriminations, fruit- 
less because it was unnecessary to support them with proof. 

The assembly, it will be remembered, had promised to retain 
some of the volunteers after their dismissal by the crown. 
When, therefore, Clinton sent down a message requesting pro- 
visions for detachments of militia which he proposed to send 
to the frontier, the members, making no attempt to learn the 
reason for this determination, expressed their astonishment at 
such vacillating policy and at the same time explained it by the 
governor's connection with Golden. Clinton repHed that he 
had not been informed by the speaker of the terms on which 
the soldiers were to be retained, and had since learned that the 
officers were to receive half pay only, while neither officers nor 
men were, to receive arrears. Therefore, as it would be impos- 
sible to get fit commanders at wages below the ordinary recom- 
pense of a day labourer, he had considered the use of the miUtia 
the best solution of the difficulty. It was they who were re- 
sponsible for his change of plan, their refusal to advance the 
army's back pay on the king's credit was reprehensible, while 
the free expression of their sentiments certainly seemed in- 



A Colonial Politician 189 

tended to produce a bad effect outside. The assembly retorted 
that he had known their intentions from the beginning, and 
though they confessed that he had disapproved, they said he 
had promised to do all that he could to make the best of what 
he considered an unwise arrangement when the time for muster- 
ing out the volunteers should be set. They therefore repeated 
their surprise at his asking suppHes for the militia before the 
pubHcation of this date. They must consider this proceeding 
not only a mark of vacillation, but a proof that he did not want 
them to retain any of the levies, and rather wished that the 
frontiers should be left unprotected. For, in this event, he could 
call out the militia and thus add to the people's burden. 

This whole incident furnishes an example of the mistaken 
policy of the administration. Shirley and Knowles had said 
that the home government had directed them to ask the colo- 
nial governors either to continue their drafts on the crown, or 
to request their assembhes to advance the necessary amount 
for settKng the obligations incurred at Newcastle's orders. No 
exception, therefore, could be taken to the New York assembly's 
course in this regard. They had merely refused the recom- 
mendation and confined Clinton to the other ahernative. Their 
remarks concerning the mihtia, on the other hand, were danger- 
ous and merited serious attention, yet the two issues had been 
so closely associated that the one received the careless considera- 
tion the other deserved. Indeed, it was almost superfluous for 
CUnton to offer a suggestion or state a fact, and at this time a 
widely quoted sentence from his last letter to the Board of 
Trade was destroying what little influence he may have re- 
tained. A governor could not write home: "I can justly say 
that the expense of the colonists in North America in proportion 
to their abilities is in no manner adequate to that which the 
people of England cheerfully submit to in defence of the liberties 
of Europe," ^ and hope at the same time to meet with much 

^ Clinton to the Lords of Trade, September 27, 1747. 



190 



Cadwallader Colden 



sympathy in his difficulties. And even when his fears of the 
effect of the assembly's rhetoric were shown to have been justi- 
fied, there was general indifference. On the 9th of November 
the militia in New York City were summoned to their parade 
ground on the common. Their line of march was past the 
governor's house, and CUnton with his little daughter was 
watching them from one of the windows, when a private wheeled 
halfway round and presented and then fired his gun at the two 
spectators. Yet his captain, a member of the assembly, merely 
looked back and laughed. When, moreover, the men arrived 
at the common, and their officers read aloud the governor's 
orders, they unanimously refused to stir a step without an act 
of assembly. And they refused with impunity. 

The militia having thus eliminated themselves from the situa- 
tion, and the assembly having decided that the retention of the 
king's volunteers was hopeless under the circumstances, they 
voted to begin afresh and raise eight hundred men for the pro- 
tection of the frontier. They also passed a bill for a magazine 
of provisions at Albany, and sent it to the governor, at the same 
time requesting him to issue warrants for recruiting the colonial 
volunteers. But Clinton would receive neither messengers 
nor vote unless they were accompanied by the speaker. He 
might better have done so. For his refusal met instant retalia- 
tion in the pubHcation and distribution of the remonstrance. 
This was in direct defiance of the governor, whose order to the 
printer and all whom it might concern to let the remonstrance 
alone had been published in the Gazette. He was powerless, 
however, to enforce it, and after receiving a formal address from 
the assembly, which besought his assent to a provisions bill before 
the winter set in, he yielded. Affirming his disapproval and his 
determination to keep up the struggle for constitutional forms, 
on the 25th of November he signed a bill for the purchase and 
transportation of army rations and one raising ;^28oo for the 



A Colonial Politician 191 

protection of the frontier. At the same time he dissolved the 
assembly in a bitter speech, which recited again the events of 
the session. 

This was a double defeat for Golden. Not only had he tried 
through the governor to force the situation, but in the council 
he had used every argument to defeat these bills and others that 
had been equally successful. But he was alone in his stubborn 
resistance, and his protests could only satisfy his conscience. 
Yet considering the nature of the government, his objections 
were only reasonable. When commissioners were named to 
purchase and transport provisions for the army, he moved an 
amendment that their disposition be given to the governor or 
the commander-in-chief. But he was voted down. When it 
was resolved to pass over the revenue from the new tax to com- 
missioners, who were to pay the eight hundred volunteers, 
issue their provisions, and buy their gunpowder and lead, he 
dissented because the money was to be issued without the gov- 
ernor's warrant, and because the method by which the bills 
were to be cancelled was open to fraud. When commissioners 
were named to make a statement of the colony accounts from 
1 71 3 on, he dissented because the nomination of such commis- 
sioners belonged to the governor only; because wine and mer- 
chandise were the chief source of the government income, and 
the merchant commissioners were interested persons; because 
the statement was not to be binding and it was possible to infer 
that the members of the assembly were to be perpetual auditors 
of the pubhc money ; because the proceedings of the commission 
were unregulated ; because the statement was to be published 
in the newspapers ; and because the salaries of the commissioners 
were to be perpetual. Finally, when it was resolved that certain 
commissioners should cancel certain bills of credit, he dissented 
because they were nominated and were to be paid without 
the governor's cognizance; because certain bills were to be 



ig2 Cadwallader C olden 

cancelled in place of certain others, thus disturbing the financial 
balance and possibly leaving bills uncancelled after their period 
of circulation had expired ; and because no evidence of the can- 
cellation was demanded, thus enabhng the commissioners to 
pocket the bills and bring them out again when they wished.' 

A session of more than three months was now at an end, and 
yet the attack on Crown Point was not appreciably nearer nor 
were the difficuhies of the administration appreciably dimin- 
ished. But there was no time for regret, as the approaching 
election called for the energy of all good partisans. It was 
clear that a word of English authority in favour of the governor 
and his friends would have much to do with their success. 
Hence the letters to Newcastle began to say openly that the 
confidence of the opposition could not but be increased by the 
silence so carefully maintained by the ministry. The letters 
also asked favours by which the administration would be 
strengthened, notably, the suspension of Philip Livingston from 
the secretaryship of Indian affairs and from the council ; and 
the substitution on the council board of James Alexander for 
Horsmanden; of William Johnson for Stephen Bayard; and 
of Brandt Schuyler for Philip Cortland, who had died. But 
the man whom every one wanted to propitiate was Sir Peter 
Warren. 

Warren's transformation into a cosmopolitan celebrity had 
not made him the less a colonial. He considered New York, 
where he had established his family in fine style, to be his per- 
manent home, and was quite willing to promote the interests 
of his American connections, and, in particular, was doing all 
he could to satisfy James Delancey's ambition to become lieu- 
tenant-governor. Under the circumstances, it was superfluous 
for another candidate to bespeak his favour. But the circum- 
stances were not generally known, and when Golden wrote to 
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 680-682. 



A Colonial Politician 193 

congratulate him on his latest achievement, he said : "I am sorry 
that I cannot send you accounts from this part of the world 
that can in any manner correspond with the actions with which 
you have fill'd all our newspapers. It is to be feared that every- 
thing from America will appear too much otherwise except 
what has been done by your nephew Colonel Johnson, who by 
his Negotiations & Interest with the Indians has exceeded all 
our Expectations & has with indefatigable labour & pains don 
as much for the safety of the British Colonies in North America 
as any one man in them. It is with pleasure I think that I have 
been of some use to him, but otherwise as to my own part, I 
am heartily sorry that I have been obHged to have any share in 
the publick affairs at this time & which I pray you'l give me 
leave to tell you was far from being my own choice. My thoughts 
were entirely formed upon another plan. . . . You know sir the 
men and Manners of the Country. I am in some measure 
known to you let me beg of you not to lose any esteem you had 
for me till you are assured I deserve that punishment by acting 
contrary to his Majesty's Interest or the rules observed by 
men of honour and while I do so I hope to have your favour 
continued. . . ." * 

VI 

The old assembly had been dissolved, but a new one was to 
be elected, and when Colden returned to Ulster in December, 
1747, it was not to rest but to work hard for the administration 
candidates. He was not, however, interested in the local 
nominees alone. PoUtical literature from the New York 
presses was circulating everywhere in the towns and was even 
finding its way to farmhouses and country taverns. Consisting 
for the most part of lampoons and doggerel, more serious 

* November 26, 1747. 
o 



194 Cadwallader C olden 

arguments were occasionally attempted. "A Letter to the 
Governor by several Assemblymen," for instance, so dramati- 
cally pictured the wretched condition of the people of New 
York, ground down by taxes to defray the cost of the war, that 
Golden was asked to reply to it in detail. This reply, however, 
did not reach the city until after the election, and meanwhile 
Golden conducted a campaign of education from his Ulster 
headquarters. His "Address to the Freeholders and Freemen of 
the Cities & Counties of the Province of New York by a Free- 
holder " is one of the best of his political papers. He goes over 
the whole case, of course, but he discards his worn-out phrases 
and employs a lighter style. Especially does he attack the 
opposition's habit of assertion without proof. "On this occa- 
sion," he wrote, "every one must remember that Rumour and 
Report was a Fine Engine to throw dirt upon a Governour. 
But we who are not assemblymen may think it as proper 
an implement against assemblymen's commissrs. If rumour 
and report be a sufficient ground to charge a Govr why has 
it not some force to charge when rumour and report is as strongly 
against them. There has been a rumour and report that con- 
siderable quantities of Beef and Pork was so bad that it was 
condemn 'd as unfit to be eat yet this cost the Country with 
good. Rumour and Report affirm that several barrels of Bread 
had good bread at both ends and in the midle what was only 
fit for hogs and yet the m'iddle cost the same price to the 
Country with the best. Rumour and report told us that the 
men were cheated out of one quarter of the rum allow'd them 
and paid for by the Country. And Rumour and report posi- 
tively affirms that very considerable quantities of the Coun- 
trie's Provisions has been sold at Auction and converted to 
Private use. May I ask how it comes that Rumour and Report 
should be of such Credit against a Govr & deserve no notice or 
regard when it is as positive an evidence against assemblymen 



A Colonial Politician 195 

and their Creatures. After this he must be a mere simple 
David indeed, who can beheve that the abusive language which 
has been vented against Govr Clinton was only to prevent 
embezUng the publick Treasures. What other purpose it was 
to serve the Assembly has not thought proper to own. But as it 
does not require any extraordinary Sagacity to discover it I 
shall leave it to enquiry of the Electors of New Assemblymen. 
They must be little acquainted with mankind who can think 
there could be any great danger from the power of a Governour 
when they who are subject to his power dare treat him in the 
manner Govr Clinton has been treated. ..." 

"All deviations from our Constitution," he said further on, 
"must either proceed from the ignorance of the Beauty of it 
or from a desire to destroy it. But in all attempts of this kind 
the people of this Province have something more to fear than 
independent States have. Every endeavour to wrest the King's 
Authority out of the hands of his Governour may draw on the 
Resentment not only of the King but likewise of a British 
Parliament who allready seem to have become jealous of the 
Dependence of their Colonies, Witness a Bill not long since 
prepared for Parliament which alarmed all the Colonies. 

"If this should be the Case that the Parliament should think 
that we abused the Privileges with which we are indulged and 
should think it necessary to put us under a more absolute 
authority, We the common middHng people ar^most Ukely to 
suffer. These very men who by their grasping after undue 
power endanger our greatest Privileges may escape the pun- 
ishment while .the innocent suffer, for those fondest of power 
are most likely to be its tools that they may be gainers by it. . . . 
Some perhaps may say that these men have been fighting the 
Country's cause against the encroachments of a Governour, &, 
therefore, should not be deserted but supported by their country. 
But if what has been before observ'd be well considered I suspect 



iq6 Cadwallader C olden 

strongly it will appear that these violent opposers of a Governour 
have had their own private Views more at heart than the good 
of the Country. Consider seriously my Dear countrymen 
whether in the late pubUc Dissentions, Love of worldly power, 
Profitable employment in the Disposing of the Country's money, 
Foolish and mischievous Contentions for httle paltry posts 
and Distinctions, do not too evidently appear to have been the 
principle motives. . . . Till of late I could not beUeve the Story 
of him who refused to pump in a sinking ship because one on 
board whom he hated, would be saved. The next Argument 
which I have heard insisted on for the Re-election of our late 
representatives in the County especially is that they are all of 
them men of the best estates in the County & consequently 
must be firmly attached to the Interest of the County where 
their Estates lie. To this I answer we have others of as good 
estates as they have & who have not had their Judgments 
byassed & their Passions exasperated by having been personally 
engaged in our wofuU dissensions. ... I must further observe 
that riches are not allwise acquired by the honestest means nor 
are they allwise accompanied with the greatest integrity of 
mind, with the most knowledge or the most generous public 
sentiments. . . . 

" In all countries and in all ages the middling rank of mankind 
have the reputation of being generally the most honest. The 
estates of the middUng rank are as dear to them as the estates 
of the richest are to them. At the same time they of a mid- 
dling rank must allwise be more cautious of making an ill use 
of any good qualities they may be possessed of than some rich 
men who know the force of money and powerfuU or rich rela- 
tions to screen them from particular enquiries into their Con- 
duct. Now my Dear Countrymen never was there a time 
wherein we ought to be more carefuU and more disinterested 
in the Choice of Representatives than now when this Country 



A Colonial Politician 197 

as I at first observ'd is exposed to the two most dangerous 
Enemies that any Country can be exposed to The French & 
merciless Indians. And when we may be Hkewise exposed to 
the resentment of our King and a British Parliament by the 
Indiscreet & passionate behaviour of our late Representatives 
in a manner which I am sorry to say may be thought disrespect- 
ful of all Authority & of our dependence on Great Britain. 
This I think highly concerns us to remove every Jealousy of 
this kind from our Superiors because we can have no defence 
against it but by removing it, which I doubt not may be easily 
don by the prudent behaviour of our next Assembly. For which 
purpose let us unite heartily & sincerely in the choice of such as 
we are persuaded know the interest of our Country & are most 
resolute to pursue it without prejudice and view to party In- 
terest or to the Satisfying their private Views Passions or 
resentments." * 

But even apart from his interest in the elections Colden's 
public responsibilities had followed him from the city. Clinton 
needed the support of a stronger nature, and, though he realized 
that Colden had not helped him much, he could lean on no one 
else, at least for the time being. Therefore he leaned on Colden 
still. The unfortunate governor was convinced that the opposi- 
tion was gaining ground in the city, he feared that the assembly 
would refuse to accept the amendments made by the Massa- 
chusetts General Court to the commission's plan for the attack 
on Canada, and he was generally concerned at the overtures 
of certain of the enemy to one of the best of his few friends. 
Above all, he was sadly puzzled at the complexity of his position, 
and would have given much to be able to settle everything by 
a fair fight in the open. Instead, he stormed and blustered 
one moment, and made some clumsy attempt at diplomacy 
the next, but always with a suggestion of helpless uncertainty 

^ The Colden Correspondence contains a copy of the address. 



198 Cadwallader C olden 

that was almost pathetic. On one of these milder impulses, 
in anticipation of the coming assembly, he wrote to Coldengham 
for an "agreeable speech." ^ He wanted one, he said, that 
would show his people that he had no maHce at heart, and to 
this suggestion Golden gave his approval, though probably 
with regret. "I have no copy of the agreement [between the 
commissioners]," he replied, "so I cannot judge of the amend- 
ments made at Boston, but I beHeve the Assembly will be 
puzzled in either agreeing to the Amendments or in refusing. 
The taking of Crown Point is exceedingly popular & they may 
risque their popularity which they have so much at heart by 
refusing to consent to the Amendments unless the reasons for 
refusing be very apparently sufficient. ... On the other hand, 
I am persuaded that the Assembly will find themselves under 
such difficulties in the execution of the agreement that they 
will gladly get out from it if they can. . . . This may give Yr 
Excellcy a handsom opportunity of Exposing the obstinacy of the 
Assembly in refusing to retain the new levies on the terms Your 
Excellency proposed. My humble opinion with submission is 
that Your Excellency should present this affair only in general 
terms . . . because I beHeve it will be hardly possible to extricate 
themselves from the difficulties which may arise in their resolu- 
tions & therefore perhaps, they might be glad of finding some 
new disputes." ^ 

CHnton's depression, however, was too well founded to be 
cheered by the optimism of a man so far away. He could only 
repeat that he felt completely stranded; that the Rutherfords 
had actually been invited to meet the Delanceys ; and that he, 
or Golden, or both, had been attacked in a document sent home 
on the last ship. Yet, when Golden, at the close of a letter 
transmitting the speech he had written for the governor, said 

• January 2, 1747/8. 
2 January 10, 1747/8. 



A Colonial Politician 199 

quite casually that perhaps the public business would go more 
smoothly without him, his probably light-hearted suggestion 
was accepted with suspicious promptness. "I have now a new 
scene to open to you at which I am greatly moved," wrote 
CUnton on January 31, 1748. "The day before Yesterday 
Waddel arrived from London and brought me a Notification 
from ye Duke of Newcastle that Chief Justice Delancey was 
appointed Leut Governr of this Province and by a letter from 
Sir Peter I find it was obtained by his means who has insinuated 
so far to His Grace that we are on good terms & by means of 
a Defamation which has been lodged agst you in England by 
their Faction and their Party here, which has succeeded so far 
that I am wholly disapointed in my Expectations of what I 
was confident I could secure to you. I persuade myself you 
think I've done you justice in that Respect, as you had the 
penning of the recommendations which I transmitted to His 
Grace On yr behalf. The Commission is to be with me till I 
think proper to diliver it in order to keep him to his good 
behavour and I find by his Discourse he has directions from 
home to assist me and to make things easier. The Assembly 
is to meet soon. I shall have a triall of his Conduct with them. 
My Leave of Absence is come over but I have fixed upon no 
time as yet for going, nor will I leave the Province before I see 
you in some way or other secured from the Resentment of Yr 
Enemies. 

" In the meantime you may depend upon my Endeavours of 
doing you all ye Justice Imaginable with his Grace in Vindica- 
tion of your Character. I approve of ye hint you give me & 
perhaps ye publick buisiness may go on more smoothly in your 
Absence for some time And shall dispence therewith till I 
see how ye Chief Justice intends to proceed nevertheless you 
may depend on my Endeavours to serve you & any of your 
Family for ye services you have done me. I shall write more 



200 Cadwallader Colden 

fully by your son. A ship will go in a fortnight for London 
& anything you have to say in your own Vindication to His 
Grace or Lds of Trade I will take care it is deUvered but let 
it be as short as possible . . . but what I fear most is that Sr. 
P. bribes . . . , that my letters are not dehvered & that Leut. 
Gover" Clark has had a share of giving Characters but whiles 
there is Life there is hopes. ..." 

If this unexpected acquiescence in his continued absence 
annoyed Colden, he did not let Clinton know it. "I must own 
that I was moved with the account Your Excellency gave me," 
he wrote, "but when I consider'd how much more reason Your 
Excelly had to be moved I thought it became me to bear any 
disappointment with patience. Upon cool reflection, however 
contrary to expectation this event may be yet now it has hap- 
pen'd I do not think there is anything surprising in it. The 
Duke's time is so exceedingly engaged in affairs of greater im- 
portance that he can have Uttle time to reflect on our pubUck 
affairs. The opinion he may have of Sr Peter may easily in- 
cline him to favour a proposal by which Your Excellency was 
to be made easy & the Duke himself freed from trouble &l 
this the more Ukely to happen while he was not fully informed of 
what has happened in this Country. 

"However this may be your Excelly is not thereby reduced 
to any necessity of making compliances unbecoming you. If 
you please to read over the powers granted Your Excellency 
by Your Commission you'l find you have power sufficient to 
rectify everything & if Your Excellency should return to Eng- 
land the past proceedings will justify your Excellency with the 
most severe judge. I have many reasons to think that the 
generahty of the people are not pleas 'd with the change. Many 
openly speak their Sentiments & I believe many are of the 
same opinion who ... do not care to speak. . . . 

"However this be I hope your Excellency can never comply 



A Colonial Politician 201 

with the most dishonourable part of the worst terms that can be 
offered that is of restoring the infamous scribbler to any power 
of exerting his malice otherwise than by his vile pen which 
must soon want ink if Your Excellency do not enable him to go 
on. ... As to what relates to myself I entirely depend on your 
Excellency's honour. . . ." 

Meanwhile, on February 12, 1748, the assembly had met. 
The news of Delancey's appointment had been rushed through 
the more accessible portions of the province on the eve of the 
elections, and, for this reason, or because others had not worked 
so heartily as Golden, almost all the old members were returned, 
and Jones was once more speaker. This gave Clinton an oppor- 
tunity to prove the sincerity of the popular leaders. It could 
now no longer be said that his pohcy from day to day was dic- 
tated by Colden's ambition, and, freed from this excuse, the 
real issues between governor and assembly could easily have been 
defined. But he did not force their definition. James Alex- 
ander, under whose influence he now came, was not a politi- 
cian. In the enthusiasm of his young manhood he had, indeed, 
firmly opposed the arbitrary methods of a succession of gov- 
ernors. But he had opposed because he felt that the rights 
of the people were threatened. His reward was suspension 
from the council, and now he found himself, years after, ad- 
vising a governor who was in hostile relations with the very 
men he had himself fought in his youth. But whether other 
interests had brought indifference, or whether he could not 
easily sympathize with the representatives of a government 
which had so carelessly misjudged him, he counselled oblivion, 
conciUation, submission. "I am sure," he wrote to Golden, 
"I would rather Ghuse your present State with a very moderate 
Subsistence than the fatigues you underwent for a year before 
with a thousand a year laid in the Scale with them;" * and for 

1 March 29, 1748. 



202 Cadwallader Colden 

his part he did not propose to fatigue himself unnecessarily. 
The assembly were not so magnanimous as to take no advantage 
of this policy. Therefore, when Chnton asked their assent to 
the alterations in the commissioners' plan that had been sug- 
gested by Massachusetts, they promptly refused to accept them. 
The alterations, they said, would defeat its purpose. When 
CHnton announced that Newcastle had written that the crown 
would pay for presents to the Indians, and keep any fort 
the colonists might take, they only expressed approval and 
promised to pay commissioners to make further arrangements. 
And when Clinton urged their concurrence in a joint expedi- 
tion once more, they said they could do nothing without the 
promise of assistance from the governments to the south, 
though some time before they had given informal assurance 
of their cooperation should the EngUsh government guarantee 
the maintenance of their conquests. On the other hand, they 
gained the governor's assent to various bills on the old Unes; 
they forced his acquiescence in the appointment of an agent 
at St. James, merely by inserting his salary in the salary bill; 
while they secured ;^i5o for Horsmanden, ostensibly for drafting 
certain bills, but really, it was said, for writing hbels on Clinton 
himself. Not that Clinton was entirely passive. He wrote 
home begging the ministry to listen to nothing from the agent 
unless authorized by him, and he never failed to tell his council 
what he had thought of a bill. But at Alexander's suggestion, 
he took their advice as he had always been supposed to do. 

Of these proceedings Colden was kept well informed, for 
Clinton had by no means done with him. He, however, was not 
sitting idle in the hope of a recall. Rather, he was exceedingly 
busy picking up the threads of a scientific life. "I knew the 
chances that attended the Game," he wrote to a friend in New 
York. "I am not sorry nor can I blame myself for any part I 
had in it . . . and you need be under no difficulty in writing fully 



A Colonial Politician 203 

of occurrences the bad as well as the good for I am return'd to 
my Philosophy." On the other hand, he was not indifferent 
to the repair of his reputation. He wrote a long personal 
appeal to Newcastle, and in the letter enclosing it to Clinton, 
suggested that it was perhaps illegal for the same person to be 
at once chief justice, chancellor, and lieutenant-governor.^ It 
was his opinion, however, that Delancey would make Horsman- 
den chief justice, and then actually try for his own appoint- 
ment as governor. But Clinton assured him that the astute 
leader of the opposition would never part with certainty for 
hope. "I have lately discovered," he went on, "the Spring of 
all my disappointments in England by Mr. Charles (upon 
whom I depended) acting in confidence with Sr Pter Warren ; 
and nothing surprised me more yesterday than the Speaker 
asking me if I would consent to the giving an allowance of 200 
pounds to an Agent in England for the Service of the Province, 
and named Mr. Charles to me as recommd by Sir Peter." 

Another spring was passing. The instructed commissioners 
of Massachusetts and Connecticut had been ready for months 
to meet those of New York; the crown was generous; the 
assembly voted rangers here, blockhouses there, provisions for 
some other place; Colden wrote an excellent argument for the 
employment of the Indians in French wars. Yet no one had 
the ability or the desire to push the one thing worth doing, the 
capture of Crown Point ; and Johnson was gloomy at his people's 
idleness, while a warm invitation they had just received for a 
summer visit to the French governor made counter-attractions 
immediately necessary. Colden thought the general indiffer- 
ence due to a desire to throw the burden of failure on Clinton. 
"In my opinion," he wrote, "what Chiefly concerns your Ex- 
cellency at present is to remove everything which has been laid 
to your charge. ... In my Opinion it is impossible to save 

1 March 21, 1748. 



204 Cadwallader Colden 

your Excellency's honour if Mr. H— n be thought worthy to be 
employ 'd in places of the greatest trust after the publication of 
such Ubellous papers as have been printed & of which no one 
doubts of his being the author. Every man that reads them 
must conclude that either your Excellency or the Author of 
these papers is not worthy to be entrusted in any publick ser- 
vice. The C. J.^ by his behaviour in this principally must give 
the most evident proof that he is your Excellency's friend or that 
he is otherwise." ^ 

Clinton was equally desirous of seeing Colden reinstated. He 
wrote to the Duke of Bedford, who had superseded Newcastle, 
of the trials and risks Colden had undergone in the service of 
the crown,' and he wrote this time untutored, while he inter- 
ested himself heartily in putting the surveyor general's office 
beyond the reach of his enemies. "I really beHeve," Alex- 
ander wrote,* "that Govr CHnton is a very friendly man and 
would do you any Service that Lay in his power, for he sent Mr 
Catherwood to me to tell me so, and that if I could think of any- 
thing to serve you he would readily do it, and mentioned some- 
thing of what you now write." 

Chnton's natural good nature may well have been the cause 
of his interest in Colden, but it must be observed that on Col- 
den's departure Delancey had shown no desire to return to the 
old intimacy. In fact, no attempt whatever had been made by 
the opposition to fill the empty place, and Clinton felt this keenly. 
"Nothing can show plainer ye good intention of ye Noble As- 
sembly," he grumbled,^ "then their last days vote where they 
appoint a Committee to assist their Speaker & correspond with 
their Agent and the orders then made (though I suppose them 
to be ready) I believe were put in after I had adjourn'd them. 
I have sent it to ye D Newcastle & Lords of Trade desiring 

1 Chief Justice Delancey. » N. Y. Col. Docs. VI, 428. 

2 April 9, 1748. * April 17. " May 16, 1718. 



A Colonial Politician 205 

they will receive no mamorial or representation from Mr. 
Charles but what I assent to, and have also writt to Guerin 
(his agent) full instructions about it. I have also given him 
orders to go to Mr. Stone and talk it over, and since that have 
given Major Rutherford the speech I made to ye Assembly 
when I dissolved them the second time to prove it false what 
they have said that we alwayes agreed before you was prime 
Minister as they terme you. . . . Mr. Shirley . . . proposes 
to come to New York in June to go with me to Albany which 
requires some consideration & our meeting and a good occa- 
sion offers at present you being appointed as president of ye 
Council to swear me as Adml of the White as you will see by the 
inclosed . . . this will touch the C. J. home for he always 
used. ... I had some design of coming up to be Qualified at 
your Son's but have talked with Kennedy since & we think 
better for you to come down for the other will be acting as it was 
in privitt, I have therefore told him but I have received no 
CompHments. ..." 

CUnton was not to meet the Indians till July and in a ten- 
days' session of the assembly in June he made one more at- 
tempt to arouse some enthusiasm for the capture of the famous 
French fortress. But the good burghers only expressed as- 
tonishment at his mentioning such a thing when Massachusetts 
had refused to ratify the agreement, an audacious shifting of 
responsibility that might well have been challenged.* But the 
governor had himself well in hand, and an obvious endeavour to 
pick a quarrel that followed found him even conciUating. 
"The Chief Justice is making all the mischief he can," he wrote 
Colden, "as you may see by that Fool Beekman's motion but I 
have Quelled it to his great disappointment; He is going up 
and Murray and of course for no good, which will make it ab- 
solutely necessary for me to have a friend to advise and consult 

^ Journal of the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., II, 241. 



2o6 Cadwallader Colden 

with. I therefore desire you will be ready at your Son's the 
Eighth of next month. Mr. Kennedy goes up and must insist 
on yr not failing me. ..." 

VII 

The real success of an Indian conference required time for 
its proof, though the presence of the largest number of Indians 
ever seen in Albany at once and their enthusiasm at the brill- 
iancy of the king's presents was at least gratifying. But the 
meeting had one immediate result. Thrown into intimate 
personal relations for the first time, Colden and Shirley frankly 
evinced a mutual liking and respect, which Clinton observed 
and turned to his own profit. Clinton's interest in England 
was good, or he would long since have been recalled. But it was 
a purely personal interest. If he was to be supported, it was 
from favouritism, esprit de corps, family feeling, and not because 
he was right. Shirley, on the contrary, had a reputation for 
excellent judgment, and his confirmation of Clinton's concep- 
tion of the case would count for much. So when he stopped in 
New York for a few days on his way home, Clinton asked him, 
with the assistance of Colden, to make an inquiry into the 
gradual revolution that was being worked in the constitution 
of the province. He was to send his conclusions to the min- 
istry, but he was also to educe from his investigation a plan of 
action for Clinton, which that weary administrator gladly prom- 
ised to follow. Shirley, however, decided later that it would be 
improper to send his report directly home and sent it to Clinton 
instead, with authority to use it as he saw fit.^ He had not 
found that the population of the most cosmopolitan of colonies 
was being exorbitantly taxed, in order that a small army of place- 
men might gamble and drink their claret at Brooks', though a 
^ N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, p. 433 et seq. 



A Colonial Politician 207 

prominent historian affirms this as the typical condition of the 
colonists.^ Instead, he proved from the records, that it had been 
the custom through Cosby 's time to grant a governor in the 
name of the king first a five and then a three years' support 
bill, or civil Ust, of which at first only the salaries of treasurer 
and assemblymen were appropriated ; that then the whole sum 
granted was appropriated, but informally, by a vote ; that next 
it had been granted annually; and that finally it had been ap- 
propriated in the bill and to officers by name, instead of to the 
offices, a contingent sum being reserved for the assembly only. 
And this, though one of the governor's instructions forbade the 
expenditure of moneys raised by the assembly in any other way 
than by warrant of the governor and council. CUnton had dis- 
regarded it, first on Delancey's advice and then through neces- 
sity. But now that the war was over, both Shirley and Golden 
were confident that with the cooperation of the home govern- 
ment the old order might be restored, though Shirley advised 
the continued appropriation of salaries to offices by the assem- 
bly as a compromise. Letters asking assistance were at once 
despatched to England, and, pending results, Shirley urged 
Clinton to recall Colden, summon the assembly, and, with 
Colden's help, tell them his intentions. 

Though a man of action rather than of theory, Shirley's 
conception of the New York situation was as academic as 
Colden's own. Indeed, he apparently ignored its two chief 
factors, the unpopularity of the surveyor general and the power 
of the Delanceys. Old Stephen Delancey had arrived in 
America less than twenty years before Colden, but by his 
quickly acquired wealth and the use he made of it, by his com- 
manding personal qualities, by his own marriage and the mar- 
riages of his children, he had established before his death, in 
1743, an unrivalled influence. This influence his eldest son 

^ Trevelyan's " American Revolution." 



2o8 • Cadwallader Colden 

bade fair to strengthen. Debonair, witty, unscrupulous, con- 
nected through his wife and his sisters and brothers with almost 
every man of prominence in the colony, he knew how to hold 
and employ them all, whether they admired and agreed, or dis- 
approved but feared his tongue, or dreaded the social hostiUty 
of his family. And what he could not get by tolerably fair 
means his rake of a brother, "fat OUver Delancey," was quite 
willing to get by any means whatever. On the other hand, 
Colden had returned to Scotland to marry, and though he had a 
Delancey son-in-law himself, besides a number of good friends 
in the Delancey set, he was as httle a part of the social fabric 
of the town as though he had never come back. Stern and un- 
compromising in demeanour, he kept his kindUer manners for 
his intimates. Never having aspired to lead men, but, on the 
contrary, having longed to drive them, he had neither studied 
their prejudices nor the arts of persuasion. He could never 
have formed a party had he tried, and he never dreamed of 
stooping to such an attempt. Nor had the Clintons helped to 
make a social background for the administration. Mrs. Clin- 
ton, a handsome, frivolous woman, with pretensions to political 
influence, had no taste for provincial gayeties and preferred the 
society of the young naval officers on the American station to 
exchanging visits with the wives of councillors and assembly- 
men. Clinton himself was often indisposed, and the family 
spent much time at their Flushing country house. It was even 
said that the governor was only seen in church three or four 
times during his administration, and to many of the people his 
face was unknown. Such indifference was resented by the 
sociable population, and when Oliver Delancey presumed to 
court an affair with Mrs. Clinton, and was promptly snubbed 
for his presumption, his outrageous remarks and actions failed 
to rouse the indignation they deserved. 

Under the circumstances, Shirley's advice seems fatuous. 



A Colonial Politician 209 

But he only knew the Golden whose political acumen won the 
praise, and his political sufferings the sympathy, of the keen- 
sighted Franklin, who, indeed, was but then counting on a cor- 
respondence with him as not the least of the pleasures his pro- 
posed retirement from active Ufe would afford. Golden 's own 
reluctance to return to politics was considerable/ But the 
prospect of being permitted to handle assembly aggressions by 
the method he had advocated for the last quarter of a century 
proved too much for his prudence, and when Shirley added his 
solicitations to GUnton's he yielded, though only on condition 
that Shirley share the responsibility of the governor's speech. 
Glinton, also, was somewhat nervous at the prospect, and his 
letter of summons is not distinctly flattering. "I have ad- 
journed the Assembly till the 20th Inst," he wrote Golden on 
September 7, 1748, "and intend for a fortnight longer . . . , 
but I hope you will come sooner to settle some aflfaires that will 
be very necessary before Gatherwood leaves this place. . . . 
Our London ships are arrived Poor Majr Ruth went home in 
a bad time for himself & us, just upon ye peace & everybody 
going abroad or on partys of pleasure Inclosed is Horsmanden's 
Petition. I think I never read a more fulsome low thing in my 
life it will be well to have some answer ready. . . . The De- 
grading intirely the G. J. is the thing I find Sticks & I fear will 
prove absolutely impracticable unless I can exhibit & maintain 
substantial articles of accusation agst him, and the more so as 
its a doubt whether ye D of Bedfd will reverse an act of his 
Predecessor's without some very cogent reason. I think what 
we have is quite strong but if we can make it stronger ye better 
... for which reason have refused absolutely an ofi^er of a 
Man-of-War to come to New York to carry me and my Family 
home. ... In order to bring things to some pass I am 
beginning to make a thorough change in ye county of Albany. 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 459. 



2IO Cadwallader Colden 

... I have agreed on Johnson for Recorder but this not to 
be known yet. . . . A Hint of some sort would not be amiss 
that the C J has absolutely refused assisting in any shape which 
I think might be made good use of to fling ye blame on him for 
yr coming down. ..." 

As might have been expected, the session was a repetition, 
with no enUvening features, of former encounters between ad- 
ministration and assembly. Viewed impartially, the governor's 
speech was sufficiently restrained and irritating only to those 
who could read between the Unes. It was with some asperity, 
however, that the consideration of Johnson's accounts was re- 
quested, as well as Canada's failure to agree to fair terms for 
the exchange of prisoners. The latest advices indicated that 
such was the demoraUzation of the French that the proposed 
attack would have been successful, and the administration was 
correspondingly annoyed at those who were responsible for 
its abandonment. The main feature of the speech, however, 
was a demand for a five years' civil list impersonally appro- 
priated. In making it a reference to the misleading counsel 
Clinton had received on his arrival was considered necessary, 
but this was scarcely adequate cause for the passion of the 
address voted in reply. CUnton's new demands were flatly 
refused, and the failure of the Canadian cartel was as flatly 
charged to the low character of Clinton's envoys. Had salaries 
been granted to offices, and not to the men filling them, 
the address asserted, the governor under the unhappy in- 
fluence of his mentor, would have filled the office of third 
justice with some unworthy person in place of a gentleman 
of experience and learning (Horsmanden). This gentle- 
man, it proceeded, had been removed for no misconduct 
whatever, under the sole influence of so mean and despicable 
a character that, as the general assembly had occasionally 
remarked, it was astonishing the governor could still give 



A Colonial Politician 211 

him his confidence. When Clinton told the assembly's mes- 
sengers, who had come to ask when he would receive this docu- 
ment, that he had not yet seen a copy and could only answer 
them when he had done so, they gave him one on their own 
responsibihty. But its perusal called forth a message which, 
while it repeated the demands of the speech, expressed the re- 
fusal of the governor to receive such an indecent performance 
and offered to do its authors the honour of referring it to the 
king. With no contingent fund, the governor said, the Cana- 
dian envoys were the best he could get on the slender credit of 
the assembly, and were usually men obliged to go north on busi- 
ness of their own. "You are pleased," he concluded, "to give 
the Characters of some Persons that I have had better Oppor- 
tunities to know than you can have had ; however, I believe that 
by this paper [the address,] some Men's Characters will be very 
evident to every Man who shall read it and who has the least 
Sense of Honour." ^ 

Both sides were now in excellent form and the assembly re- 
torted without delay. It was irregular and unparhamentary, 
they resolved, to send a copy of the address to the governor, and 
he had no right to insist on it, for it was their right to see him on 
public business. When he denied them access, it was, there- 
fore, a violation of his right and contrary to his solemn promise 
to the speaker made on his presentation. Indeed, it not only 
tended to destroy intercourse between governor and people, but 
to subvert the constitution, and he who had advised it was an 
enemy to the general assembly and to their constituents. This 
was the language of principle, but it was in the voice of faction, 
and, however necessary might be its enunciation in the ears of a 
people who were to be self-governing, it does not ring true. 
Despite the governor's refusal to receive it, moreover, the ad- 
dress had been entered on the minutes, and this appeal to the 

1 Journal of the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., II, 248. 



212 Cadwallader C olden 

people, when he had offered to make the king the umpire, was 
especially attacked in his answer to the resolutions. It was his 
duty, he further observed, to preserve the king's authority, 
and when they violated the rules of decency they must bear the 
consequence. Besides, their right of access was not universal, 
but conditional on the interest of king and public, of which he 
had a right to judge as well as they. And then, although no 
disposition of the year's revenue granted to the king had been 
made, failing which not a penny could be touched, he pro- 
rogued them to the spring. 

Not much, certainly, had been gained for the prerogative, yet 
the very fact that Colden had been recalled had made Delancey 
uneasy, and losing for the moment his easy command of the 
situation he had attacked him personally and with the bitterness 
of an uncertain position. On the 24th of September, just before 
the assembly met, Clinton had announced in council that the 
provisions for the frontier forces would last but a week longer, 
and that he had reason to believe that if more were not provided 
by that time, the soldiers would disband. When this informa- 
tion was conveyed to the speaker, he said it was too soon to 
break up the army, and several assemblymen in town agreeing 
with him, the council advised the continuance of the rations 
until October 21st. Clinton, accordingly, sent his private sec- 
retary to a commissioner of provisions to request the necessary 
orders to the commissioners in Albany. The commissioner, a 
Mr. Richards, was reported to have acquiesced, but in a few 
days word came from Albany that the commissioners had re- 
fused to issue more provisions, as they had received no orders 
from New York. Mr. Banyer, the deputy-secretary of the 
province, was sent to ask an explanation. Mr. Richards said 
that he had never promised anything, and that, on consultation, 
his colleague had refused to consent to any action not men- 
tioned in the act appointing them. He also said, in reply to a 



A Colonial Politician 213 

question from Mr. Banyer, that he would disregard even a 
written order from the governor, as it was not worth while to 
send such a small cargo up the river anyhow. This conversa- 
tion Mr. Banyer reported to the council in detail, and had 
scarcely finished when Golden moved that Mr. Richards 's 
refusal be put on record. But Delancey interrupted with a 
motion for the transcription of the whole report, and Golden 
not supporting his own motion, it was lost. 

A few days later still, the council were considering a letter 
from Glinton to the governor of Ganada. A paragraph seemed 
obscure to the chief justice, and he asked if any one present could 
explain it. This Golden attempted to do, but its meaning still 
proved baffling, and Golden was moving that the clerk make it 
intelligible when Delancey exclaimed significantly, "We must 
guard against misrepresentation." Golden demanded his 
meaning. Delancey said he felt his warning necessary because 
"Mr. Golden had discovered a most flagitious and wicked mind 
in Gouncil" on the day when Mr. Banyer had reported his inter- 
view with Mr. Richards. Golden asked that this charge be 
put on record. Delancey, in what Golden afterward called a 
threatening manner, repeated his assertion and offered to write 
it out at once or bring it to Golden the next day. A few more 
hostile expressions were exchanged, and the meeting broke up. 
But the controversy raged on. Golden appealed to the gov- 
ernor to require an answer from Delancey, and intimated that 
this was not the freedom of debate of which the instructions 
spoke. The governor ordered Delancey to reply. Delancey 
responded by criticising the management of the verbal duel by 
the government. He had not, he said, been summoned to the 
council the day Golden's memorial was presented, so that the 
valuable time of a Supreme Gourt justice had been spent in 
writing what might have been spoken as well ; he had been told 
to make his answer to the governor instead of to the governor in 



214 Cadwallader C olden 

council, as was proper ; the council had not advised this order 
to him, and he was not obliged to accuse himself. He did say, 
however, in order "to show his wilHng temper," that when Mr. 
Banyer was describing Mr. Richards 's refusal, Mr. Golden inter- 
rupted, "That is enough, set that down," he himself protesting 
"That is a very unfair method, to take down part of a man's 
testimony." As for his inference from this, the chief justice 
begged leave to state that, as he had a very mean opinion of 
Mr. Golden, and as his character was notorious, he had 
imagined his remark to spring from depravity of heart, and 
was filled with just indignation, the expression of which he 
failed to see had in any way affected the freedom of debate. 

In his reply to this plain-speaking document. Golden said, with 
truth, that Delancey had made an issue of unimportant details ; 
that as the case was without precedent, errors were probable; 
but that it would have been clearly improper to summon De- 
lancey or himself as judges in a case where both were parties. 
The point was, had Delancey justified himself ? Had it been 
decent to obtrude his "mean opinion" right or wrong? If it 
had. Golden said, "it might be easy to retort by giving an opinion 
of Mr. Ghief Justice." He did not know, he concluded, what 
Delancey meant by his epithets, but he did know that he had 
endeavoured to lead a Ufe giving no just cause of offence ; that 
his chief pleasure had been to employ his abilities for the good 
of mankind ; that the sole cause of Delancey's resentment was 
the transfer of Ghnton's confidence; that he himself, on the 
other hand, had never resented Delancey's temporary enjoy- 
ment of that honour, though it was his by right ; and that, once 
his, he had never used it to the hurt of any man, but had put 
the best construction possible on Delancey's behaviour. While 
the final statement was oratorical Ucense or an unconscious 
tribute to his own best intentions, it is nevertheless evident that, 
had Delancey been able to indict Golden for any concrete offence, 



A Colonial Politician 215 

he would have done so. But he doubtless deemed his inability 
to do this his greatest misfortune, and Golden could surely hope 
to gain nothing from his enemies by proving his own virtue. 
He still hoped for official approval, however, and as official ap- 
proval was to him the final test of service, he went up to Coldeng- 
ham for the winter less depressed by his position than might 
seem possible. 

VIII 

One thing was certain. It was more necessary than ever to 
wring some expression of opinion from the ministry, if the 
administration was to accomplish its purpose. But the last 
ship of the year, like its fellows, had come in without an official 
word. Golden had not waited for this, however, and once more 
had besought Bedford in his own behalf, because, he said, the 
governor feared the cry of favouritism that would go up if he 
himself should speak for Golden.^ This he soon did, neverthe- 
less, and Delancey's attack and Golden 's fair record were touched 
up with friendly zeal. He was sure, he added, that it had never 
been intended that he should dehver Delancey's commission 
if he considered it against the public interest, and he proposed 
to hold it back for instructions. Golden had urged more radi- 
cal action. It was his plan that Glinton should summon the 
chief justice, give him his commission, swear him in as lieu- 
tenant-governor, and then suspend him, and he had considered 
every emergency, including Delancey's possible refusal to give 
the governor his opportunity. 

"Your Excellency must have observ'd," he wrote, "how 
difficult it is to get his Majesty's ministers to think of plantation 
affairs ... & therefore that they may not come to any determi- 
nation in a long time, which must produce greater inconvenience 
to your Excellency than any termination whatsoever even the 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 469. 



2i6 Cadwallader C olden 

contrary to your Excellency's expectations. For this reason 
may it not be proper to do what is in your power to do because, 
as Knowles observ'd, it will be easier for your Excellency to get 
a thing don to be approved than to get others to do it. And it 
will obUge the Ministry to take the matters Your Excellency 
has laid before them immediately under consideration or if they 
do not it will be a tacit approbation of what Your Excellency 
has done. ... If Your Excellency do not do this, will it not 
be naturally askt what is the reason that you are affray 'd to do 
what is in your power to do and which you represent as so neces- 
sary to be done. . . . May not this give some credit to the vile 
calumnies which they otherwise could not obtain?" ^ 

CUnton longed to follow these suggestions, but he quailed 
before the possible consequences. "I do assure you," he re- 
plied, "I shall do what we had under consideration before you 
left me and have given Catherwood orders abt it in case I do it 
that they may not be Surprized, & have told him to let them 
know I did it affraid, if any accident happened to me, of the ill 
treatment my Wife of course must expect from him ; before I do 
it it will be very proper to have a letter ready for ye D Bedford, 
Lords of trade & President of ye Council with reasons of so 
doing When I do it I must expect to meet with all ye opposi- 
tion & Quirks that the Law can invent to puzzell things there- 
fore it will require that I shoud have upon ye spot all ye Assist- 
ance that I may want. I must desire to hear from you as soon 
as you can for as Mr. Alexander is out of town I have none — 
Catherwood is but just now going on board. . . ." "I expected 
you would have said something in answer to ye latter part of my 
letter," he complained on the 3d of January, 1749. "Hope you 
are considering what is proper & to guard against the worst 
especially any Quirks of ye Law, . . . They grow very inso- 
lent & particularly Oliver that I sent a Message to ye Attony 

^ December 8, 1748. 



A Colonial Politician 217 

Genl ye other day that in Case he did not prosecute him 
as far as he could carry it upon my order I woud turn him out 
but I am at a great Loss how to fix it properly that I may be in 
ye right in order to push things to as great length as in my 
power." 

Golden, on the other hand, began to see some reason for en- 
couragement. A certain Colonel Herrick, who had been, as 
the puzzled governor insisted, "as violent in the Assembly as 
any," had actually broken with the faction, and Colden was so 
convinced that he was "a sincere convert" that he induced Clin- 
ton to make him a county judge. "I am," he wrote happily, 
"pleased to find that those persons who so very lately thought 
they had an universal influence are brought so near upon a par 
with their neighbours. ... As to matters of Law or Quirks in 
the Law I cannot advise you otherwise than this that you would 
please to send Dr Ayscough or Captn CUnton to Mr Alexander 
to desire him to come to you some day before noon that you 
want his advice Sz: opinion in a matter of Law & I cannot doubt 
of his waiting on Yr. Excellcy. ..." 

But Clinton was not to be put off like this. Though the 
proclamation of peace had reached the colony in the late sum- 
mer of 1 748, no copy of the treaty, no instructions, had followed 
it, and the governors of New York and Massachusetts Bay 
must fence with the dexterous governor of New France as best 
they could. The Frenchman's aim was to force the Iroquois 
to go to Montreal to make a separate treaty, as, indeed, had been 
customary, and to this end he sought to circumvent Clinton's 
efforts to exchange or purchase those who were taken prisoners in 
the war, on the ground that they were not British subjects. Nor 
was he unaware of the factional fight in New York, where the 
assembly was playing into his hands by making it as difficult 
as possible to secure skilful envoys. In questions of this sort 
Colden was invaluable and CUnton tried again. 



2i8 Cadwallader C olden 

"1 received a letter from Coll Johnson this morning," he 
wrote early in February, "he wants to know abt getting ye 
Prisoners from the English Indians. I thought that part had 
been settled. . . . We must expect to meet with all the rubs 
they can give with Malice [ on ] what we wrote to ye Governr 
of Canada. Therefore, I think it will be highly necessary for 
you to come downe immediately. ... I therefore don't send 
for Alexander till you come down . . . Mrs. Clinton with her 
compliments thinks that it is absolutely necessary for you to 
come In short, Oliver has frightened ye poor Mayor that I 
can't get a Sight of him that we are only Two and two at present 
in Council and their wants a little Spirit to keep up theirs for 
Self Interest prevails more than I could ever expected to have 
seen. ... I have this moment an account bro't me that Oliver 
is going to England, let him go. I will answer for it that I 
have done his business. ..." 

It was nearly time, too, for the assembly which was to meet 
in March, but Colden was immovable. "I am much concem'd 
that the present state of the weather in this season of the year 
is such that it renders it impossible for me to shew my obedience 
to Yr Excellency's desires," he repHed.^ "The express that 
brought yours . . . never found such difficulty in travelhng with 
continual danger of his horse tumbling, besides this I have been 
so much in a warm room this winter that I cannot expose myself 
to the cold lodgings that cannot be avoided travilling, together 
with the cold in the day without the greatest danger to my health 
at an age when I am become too sensible of the impressions of 
cold & therefore I must beg your Excellency to excuse my 
waiting on you till such time as I can do it by water when I can 
take conveniences with me to guard against the cold. ... In 
the mean time I shall endeavour to give my opinion in the mat- 
ters which are the subjects of Yr. Excellency's letter in such 

^ February 9, 1748/9. 



A Colonial Politician 



219 



manner as to make up as far as possible any inconvenience that 
may attend my absence. I am of opinion that Coll Johnson 
must take the care of procuring the Indian prisoners for several 
reasons, i. No one is so capable of doing it. 2. No other I 
suspect will be willing to undertake it. 3. If any other . . . 
fails it may occasion blame in employing another. I think like- 
wise that ... as he undertook the management of the Indians 
during the war it is his duty. . . . But I suspect the greatest 
difficulty . . . arises from the expense . . . and . . . some 
may think it necessary to call the Assembly. But I am of 
opinion there is no necessity. . . . Your Excelly has informed 
the King's ministers that you cannot meet the Assembly of this 
Province till you know their resolutions on the matter you have in 
dispute with the Assembly . . . for till his Majesty's pleasure 
shall be known it may be difficult or perhaps impossible for you 
to behave consistently with yourself or the orders you may after- 
ward receive from the Crown. We know not upon what terms 
the prisoners are to be sent back perhaps it may not be entirely 
upon the Conditions Yr. Excelly proposed or perhaps they may 
not all be relieved from the Indians, in both which cases delay 
is reasonable. Supose the terms Yr. Excelly proposed . . . 
are entirely comphed with, your Excelly must be allow'd some 
time to treat with the Indians, and in case you should fail, this 
can but very little affect the affairs of this Government after all 
our prisoners shall be released without which you are under no 
obhgation. It can only occasion a complaint from the Govner 
of Canada. . . . Several expedients may likewise be thought 
of to make matters easy. The Indians may be tried how far 
they will be satisfied with promises of future rewards or other 
Uke methods. . . . Mr. Lydius may be sent back to engage 
the Relations of those who have been prisoners in Canada to 
advance money for the release of the French who are in the 
hands of our Indians as being a condition on which their 



220 Cadwallader Colden 

relations are to be released and that they ought to trust the As- 
sembly for the repayment of this money. If this be resolved 
on Mr. Lydius must keep it entirely secret otherwise they who 
endeavour to embroil affairs will certainly defeat it. . . . As to 
what Your Excellency may think it necessary to write to Eng- 
land at this time I shall enclose a sketch of my thoughts thereon 
in the words which I think may be proper to be used but with 
submission, however, to what alterations or abridgements which 
Your Excellency shall think proper. On this occasion I must 
take the liberty again to put Your Excellency in mind not to 
direct your letters to Mr. Catherwood only least he should mis- 
carry nor do I think it prudent to put the whole of your affairs 
in the power of one man to suppress what he pleases. . . . Yr. 
Excellency will see from the enclosed Sketch that there is a brief 
recapitulation of what has been formerly said, this is don with 
design to keep things in memory & from a belief that great 
men do not readily turn to former papers if reference were made 
to them & different expressions of the same thing may some- 
times be of use. . . ." 

This refusal to come to New York, for some time at least, 
seemed final, yet little more than a week later, the governor's 
new private secretary renewed the attack.^ "His Excellency 
being much indisposed," he wrote, "So orders me to acquaint 
you that Mr. De Ligneris & 23 others with Captn Stoddart are 
come down & only two of our prisoners. . . . The Govr of 
Canada is still inflexible, and has sent this Embassy to treat 
for Exchange of Prisoners. On the news of the Frenchmen 
coming down, some mahcious persons made it their Business 
to insinuate that not one farthing would be paid by the Assem- 
bly, so that I was forced to engage for his Excellency for the 
payment. By this you will observe the absolute necessity [of] 
your Advice & Assistance at this Critical Juncture, for in that 

1 February 18, 1748/9. 



A Colonial Politician 221 

they cannot make a Council, Coll Moore and the Mayor being 
both ill. . . ." 

Current events were not, indeed, enlivening. A few days 
before Oliver Delancey — already under nominal prosecution by 
the crown — and some of his friends, all in disguise and with 
blackened faces, had broken into the house of a respectable 
Dutch Jew, smashed the windows, flung open the doors, and 
pulled everything to pieces, because OUver was pleased to de- 
clare that the man's wife looked Uke Mrs. Chnton. Yet three 
of the best lawyers in the province refused to take the case, and 
advised the Jew not to fight it out on account of the position of 
the defendants. On another occasion OUver had met a poor 
man on the road, ordered him to stand still, and when he hesi- 
tated to obey, had broken his head.^ Yet the man had no more 
success with the lav^yers than the Jew. Indeed, with an infirm 
and indifferent attorney general, a chief justice leading a faction, 
and a second judge devoted to his chief, there was reason to fear 
that justice would often yield to expediency. There was, be- 
sides, something pitiful about the governor's position that 
Golden was not fitted by nature to appreciate. When the Clin- 
ton administration was only a memory. Colonel Choat, of Mas- 
sachusetts, said to William Smith, of New York: "Mr. Clinton 
was of all others the man we would have wished for our Governor, 
for he would have done anything for you within his commission 
for his bottle and a present." ^ Yet this man, to whom argu- 
ment was a horror, was obliged to endure a war of words waged 
in his name and round his head for years, until he was insulted 
in the streets, while even his personal sufferings met no recogni- 
tion but the prescription : " Give him plenty of wine and Colden, 
and he'll come out all right." He was sick of it all, but he 
could only call once more for the adviser who was quite likely 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 471. 

2 Smith's " History of New York," II, 158. 



222 Cadwallader C olden 

to make him fight, as he himself shrank from fighting. His 
summons was also once more ineffective. "The cold is so 
severe that I cannot be one hour in it," Colden told the 
anxious governor on February 19th, saying farther on in the 
same letter: "Your Excellency in all pubHck treaties will 
consider the Interest of the Nation in general more than of 
this Province in particular & much more than the SolHcita- 
tions of private persons. ... I am told that when Oliver 
was at Esopus he gave out the Assembly was to be dissolv'd 
and soUcited the election of particular persons. He brought 
up all the songs and factious papers with him read them in 
the tavern & talked as he uses to do. . . . I know not what 
has put the apprehensions of a Dissolution into their heads 
unless (as is given out) they find that their interest lessens in 
the City of New York. If there were reason to hope that one 
man in the city could be removed & another in Queen's County, 
I would hold up both hands for a dissolution. Nay if we were 
sure of a hearty strugle in the city tho' nothing should be carried 
I should not be displeased with it. . . ." And again Ayscough 
writes, this time on the 3d of March, when the winter was surely 
near its end: "His Excellency . . . is much concerned that you are 
so much indisposed, . . . that you could not have taken the oppor- 
tunity of the River being open to have come down. . . . Mr. 
De Lignerises party have been now here sixteen days, & no 
progress made ... at a great expense to somebody. Where 
it will fall I can not determine ; & you may naturally suppose 
the Malicious grumbling, carefully propagated by the designing 
Faction, who will lose no opportunity to calumniate his Ex- 
cellency's measures. Therefore ... he orders me to press in 
the strongest terms I can possibly do it, that if your health will 
permit which I hope in God it will that you would immediately 
take the very first offer to embark for New York, for I must beg 
leave to repeat it to you, that I am certain you were never more 



A Colonial Politician 22^ 

wanted ; for which reason I earnestly beg you for God's sake 
not to fail. . . . Last Tuesday his Excelly prorogued the As- 
sembly till the second Tuesday in April. ..." 

Nevertheless, Golden stayed in Ulster and the assembly was 
prorogued once more. And though early in May Ayscough 
wrote joyously that Gatherwood had announced the recall of 
Delancey's commission, the approval of Horsmanden's suspen- 
sion, the rebuke of the assembly, the presentation of a memorial 
to the king by the ministry in favour of Governor Ghnton, and the 
arrival of Sir Peter Warren on the next ship, so disgusted that he 
had resigned his commission as admiral, some one had been too 
sanguine and the news was never confirmied. In fact, there was 
no news of any kind, and it was in desperation rather than from 
any hope of success that the assembly was at length permitted 
to organize in the last week of June. 

As it happened, the town was already in a state of vast excite- 
ment. Three days before Oliver Delancey, Dr. Golhoun, one 
of the governor's friends, and others, had been sitting in the tap- 
room of a tavern in the dockward when Golhoun and Delancey 
began to quarrel. Delancey said he had objections even to 
being in the same room with any one so dependent on the gov- 
ernor, and then flung a whole vocabulary of epithets at Glinton, 
and, Golhoun remonstrating, flung them all over again at Glin- 
ton 's friends, begged any one or every one to report his words 
to the governor, offered bribes to any one who would, and told 
Golhoun that he expected to repeat his performance in all com- 
panies for the rest of his life. He next went home, sent a mes- 
senger for Golhoun, got him into his house alone, assaulted him, 
and was just prevented from kilHng him outright. Golhoun 
finally recovered, but, during the session of the assembly and for 
months thereafter, the problem of dealing with Delancey in- 
creased the burden of the administration. The examination of 
witnesses took the attention of the council from more important 



224 Cadivallader C olden 

matters, and Clinton even hoped that popular disapproval of 
one brother would diminish the prestige of the other ; when the 
chief justice, with his usual -finesse, openly declared his abhor- 
rence of Oliver's behaviour.^ 



rx 

Meanwhile the assembly had been opened in a manner that 
did credit to both Clinton and Colden, the latter of whom was 
again commanding the government forces in person. The mem- 
bers were presented with a copy of that part of the commission 
and instructions concerning government finance, and then the 
governor, in a dignified speech, asked them to act accordingly 
without a reference to any other subject. The commission 
declared it to be the royal pleasure that the public income 
should be issued on the governor's warrant, given with the 
advice and consent of his council, for the support of the govern-* 
ment ; the fifteenth instruction directed that no excise act should 
run for less than a year, and that all other supply and support 
bills should be indefinite, except for temporary services ; while 
the thirty-second instruction was a practical repetition of the 
financial clause in the commission, adding permission, however, to 
the assembly to examine the accounts of revenue raised by virtue 
of their acts.* The administration, therefore, had taken an im- 
pregnable position. But it was not held long. Colden Uterally 
could not see what he considered to be the law broken without 
a protest, even though the protest was certain to be ineffective, 
even though it obscured the main issue and provided the oppo- 
sition with a grievance. Therefore, when the assembly offered 
to present their address, the governor refused to receive it until 
he had seen a copy. The assembly resolved unanimously that 

^ Proceedings of the Executive Council; N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 513-515. 
"^ Journal, etc., II, 250. 



A Colonial Politician 225 

he had no right to insist on previous copies. The governor 
retorted that the king always had copies of parHamentary 
addresses, and that the practice had been adopted in the colony ; 
that he had a right to know, because he had authority to restrain ; 
and that, since their messengers were with him before ten o'clock 
in the morning, when they had not met to consider the address 
until after nine, he had good reason to suspect that he was to 
be surprised into receiving something improper. And then, 
having said all this, he admitted that he had seen a copy in the 
minutes brought him by the clerk and gave them permission to 
present it.^ 

This was bad management indeed, for the assembly had shown 
their weakness by disregarding the governor's one point, the 
irregularity of their financial system. Instead, asserting gen- 
erally that the instructions were more ancient than modern, and 
that even in their antique provisions nothing could be found 
about a grant of revenue for five years, they vowed that "the 
faithful representatives of the people" would never yield more 
than an annual support bill, while they asked an explanation of 
the delay in exchanging the prisoners of war and blamed the 
governor for proroguing them the previous autumn, before they 
had applied the revenue. The message sent in reply is one of 
Golden 's most characteristic productions, from its opening com- 
parison between the governor's charity and the assembly's vin- 
dictiveness, to its closing exhortation to contrast the lot of the 
English colonist with that of the Roman or Dutch, and then 
give thanks. The governor asked the assembly to consider the 
bill brought into Parliament at the last session attacking the 
paper currency of the colonies and enforcing the royal instruc- 
tions. Its debate had only been postponed, he assured them, 
and meanwhile it was desirable that they remember that it was 
an essential part of the constitution that the same branch of the 

* Ibid., p. 262. 
Q 



226 Cadwallader C olden 

legislature should not both issue and grant the revenue, and 
that in rewarding private persons for services of which he knew 
nothing by means of riders to the support bill, they had pre- 
empted a privilege unassumed by ParUament. In particular, 
moreover, he complained that Colonel Johnson was unpaid, 
that the bearers of the last flag of truce to Canada were in 
the same condition, though the assembly had voted to settle 
their accounts more than a year before, and that they had dehb- 
erately misconstrued his speech/ 

A repetition of the preceding nonsense followed. The mes- 
sage was received. The assembly drew up an answer. CUnton 
refused to receive it for the same reason as before, then saw it 
in the votes, and at last accepted it. The assembly still insisted 
that Chnton had asked for a quinquennial grant, though his 
denial of such a demand might have been taken as a regret for 
having made it even if he had, and said that the services he had 
mentioned had remained unpaid because he had not presented 
the accounts. Then once more his crimes were rehearsed in 
order to show the absurdity of comparisons between himself 
and the king. The services for which grants were made were 
always mentioned in their bills, they affirmed, while Parliament 
often provided for objects not mentioned by the crown. On 
the other hand, they admitted that certain sums were set apart 
for the king's own disposal, but they reminded the king's 
representative that a king's interest was identical with his sub- 
jects', while a governor was usually a grasping stranger whose 
stay was uncertain, and from whom no redress could be ex- 
pected. By this time there was no hope of anything save more 
fighting, and when the governor followed the last address by a 
sufficiently sane request for one law, one object, and for the use 
of titles for laws germane to their subject, the House broke 
into enraged resolves. They affirmed their right of access to 

1 Journal, etc., II, 267 et seq. 



A Colonial Politician 227 

the governor and the enmity of his principal adviser, and they 
refused to proceed until satisfied for the injury done their ad- 
dress. This being refused in turn in a message of the 20th of 
July, it was unanimously resolved that the message was unsatis- 
factory and a breach of privilege, and after a two weeks' dead- 
lock the assembly was prorogued to a distant date. 

It was now nearly two years since any appropriation had 
been made for government expenses. Yet Chnton believed 
that, while he was unable to get at a shilHng of the revenue, 
and even had to pay out of his own pocket for the gunpowder 
of which he made patriotic use on the royal anniversaries, the 
speaker was in the habit of drawing on the treasury for the ser- 
vices of the faction by private order of the House. And he had 
some reason for his beUef. For when during the deadlock 
Golden had asked certain leading men if it would not be possible 
to raise the sum necessary to ransom the prisoners and satisfy 
the Indians by private subscription, he was promptly assured 
that it could be done in a day. But as soon as the faction heard 
of this scheme, they pronounced it dangerous, and the speaker 
proposed instead that the House privately deposit the required 
amount in the hands of responsible persons to be designated 
by the governor. His choice, however, was restricted to mem- 
bers of assembly living at Albany and he refused the offer, pro- 
posing in turn that the treasurer should come to the council, 
as if voluntarily, and offer to pay their warrants for an amount 
to be named by the House. But the speaker considered that 
this would prove a bad precedent, and the administration felt 
obliged to comply with his proposition, exasperating as such 
necessity might be.* 

CUnton's situation, indeed, seems almost incredible. The 
chosen representative of a powerful nation in one of its largest 
colonies, he had now for three years been engaged in a bitter 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 524 and 536. 



228 Cadwallader C olden 

contest with the people he had been sent to govern. This con- 
test, full of personal animosity though it was, had early de- 
veloped into an attempt, on the one hand, to uphold the dignity 
and power of the government, whose spokesman and adminis- 
trator Clinton was, and, on the other, to curtail its effectiveness 
almost to the point of extinction. It is preposterous that that 
government should not, unasked, have declared its position in 
all those passing months. Yet, so far was this from being the 
case, that it had not spoken, though it had been implored, times 
without number, to say something even if it were a word of dis- 
approval. And every one in the province knew this to be true. 
Surely if ever government threw away whatever hold on a colony 
it may have possessed, that government was England and that 
colony was New York. Colden, fully alive, of course, to the situa- 
tion, sought relief to his emotions in the following letter to Shir- 
ley: "The honour you do me by yours of 26th of last month 
wherein you are pleased to give me Your Excellencey's appro- 
bation of my conduct in assisting Govr Clinton fully compensates 
the injuries received. ... I have often said my character had been 
established from the Slander of a few Malicious men. . . . Their 
Malice ... as to my character has not the least effect with men 
of sense. . . . On the contrary it has been often said these People 
establish Mr. Colden 's character. . . . But notwithstanding of 
this if wicked men should succeed by the basest & most dis- 
honourable means to the highest offices in the Government 
what effect must this have on people's minds & manners ? As 
to this I can give you a flagrant instance there is not a man of 
this town who knows O. D. & is not persuaded that he rail'd 
at Govr Clinton & abused his Character & conversation in 
every company wherever his name or the pubhck affairs have 
been mention'd & yet Philip Vanhorn, a constant bottle com- 
panion of his & present when the dispute happen'd with D. 
Colhoun, on his examination before the Council on his oath . . . 



A Colonial Politician 229 

said that he did not remember ever to have heard Oliver De- 
Lancey speak disrespectfully of the Govr. . . . But their greatest 
hopes . . . are in the Nemine Contradicente resolves of the Assem- 
bly & from the Opinion they have that the ministry will think 
it prudent to comply with the humours of the People in that they 
may think that man the most capable to restore the Government 
who has had such power to distress. You know what kind of 
creature an American Assembly is & yet you cannot have a 
sufficient Conception of the Ignorance & the mean spirit of the 
Dutch members here. Most of them ... of the lowest rank of 
Artificers. ... It requires but a small degree of artifice [Golden 
was assuredly innocent of any attempt to pun] to make them 
believe the greatest absurdities of a Governor & I durst undertake 
that if 4 or 5 men were not in that house & others in their 
place to have all the Nem Con's on the other side . . . men not 
engaged in the public disputes love their own quiet. . . . But if 
it shall once appear that the Chief Justice's Interest is not suffi- 
cient to support him in the measures he has taken and that the 
King is resolv'd to support his Prerogative in the Plantations 
the publick affairs in this government will soon have a different 
appearance. ... I have been near 30 years in the Council of the 
Province ... & in all that time do not remember any pubKck 
money was drawn by any Govr & applied to any other use than 
what it was design 'd for by the Assembly that granted it except 
for the Perquisite which the King's Auditor of his revenue 
claim'd and you know Sr what influence the Govrs were under 

at that time to make them do this If Govr Clinton had made 

use of his power in drawing the least sum out of the Treasury 
contrary to the intent of the Grantors it cannot be doubted 
this Assembly would have pointed it particularly out. . . . 
On the contrary I am persuaded that of the publick money 
more has been converted to private use since the Assembly 
assumed the sole power of issuing it than has been don in any 



230 Cadwallader C olden 

shape by all or any of the Governors since I came into this 
Province. . . . 

" It may deserve the attention of his Majesty's Ministers that 
Virginia is the only Colony with a perpetual revenue for the 
Support of Government. ... I hear of no complaints in that 
colony of their Governour or of any complaints the Govr makes 
of the People whereas great complaints are heard in every other 
colony of the one or the other or of both. 

" I believe a future Assembly may be brought to consent to have 
the pubUck money issued by warrant as formerly but I doubt 
that any will consent to a revenue for years far less to a perpetual 
revenue because thereby they must lose that power & influence 
on a Governour that every man is fond of. But I am of opinion 
that his Majesty's Quitrents of Land in this Province if properly 
regulated would be more than sufficient for the support of the 
Civil Government. . . . Yet if Prosecutions in Chancery [the 
reform in the land system he has been suggesting] were set on 
foot in this Province where the Govr is Chancellor such clamour 
& jealousy would be rais'd as might have bad effects. Therefore 
I am of opinion that the most prudent Method would be by 
application to ParHament. 

"About the year 1726 1 sent a Memorial to the Board of Trade 
wherein the State of the Quitrents is more particularly set forth 
& which was so much taken notice of by that Board that on 
what was represented in it an Act for Partition of Lands in this 
Province was disallowed & repealed by the King. 

" But any information of this kind I now make will be attended 
with such resentment as I choose to avoid & I beUeve I feel 
to this day the effects of that memorial and hence I must beg 
that nothing from this appear as from me in the pubUck offices. 
. . . There are some in this Province capable of everything 
that Caesar Borgia was. 

"The office of Chief Justice has more influence in the publick 



A Colonial Politician 231 

affairs in this Colony than can well be imagined. No man 
that has any Property can think himself independent of the 
Courts of Justice, however carefull his behaviour in Hfe may be. 
There are in this Colony numbers of Lawyers who's business 
& fortune depend on the Countenance of a Chief Justice. . . . 
When then a Chief Justice puts himself at the head of a Party 
in this Colony he becomes as formidable at the head of the 
Lawyers as the Popes formerly were in the days of ignorance at 
the head of the monks and friars. . . . Chief Justice Delancey 
told me in conversation which was overheard by others that I 
would find that a Chief Justice has more power than a 
Governour. . . . 

"I am told that Sr Peter Warren has advised Coll Johnson no 
longer to assist Govr CUnton in the Indian affairs & to dechne 
all publick business. . . . The Faction hereby hopes that the 
Indian affairs will return into the old Channel of the Comrs at 
Albany. . . . I've heard that Coll Johnson has recommended 
Mr. Lidius Secretary for Indian affairs but I doubt of his 
being to equal his task. In my opinion some person of known 
prudence should be imploy'd . . . with a sufficient allowance 
to support him . . . & to reside at Albany. This officer to be 
immediately under the direction of the Govr of New York but to 
correspond with all the neighbouring Governours. . . .^ " 

Colden certainly found enough to annoy and distress him, but 
it is probable that his own temperament saved him from seeing 
the dehcate irony of his position as some saw it. It will be re- 
membered that Delancey had early encouraged him to make 
the worst of himself in any given situation. It was now believed 
that, in fear lest Clinton should leave before the delivery of the 
lieutenant-governor's commission, and horrified at the prospect 
of seeing Colden take the chair as president of the council, 
the resourceful chief justice was actually inventing situations 

1 July 25, 1749. 



232 Cadwallader Colden 

to rouse Colden 's indignation and move him to bore the ministry 
to the point of disgust. It is Smith's opinion, however, that 
CUnton now began to reahze that he had been the victim of the 
clashing aims of Colden and Delancey, and that from that mo- 
ment Colden's power was at an end.^ In fact, CUnton had long 
felt that Colden's influence did not make for peace and had 
begged his assistance from necessity as much as from choice. 
Yet, now that such necessity was removed by certain new con- 
nections of the governor's,^ his assistance was sought as before, 
and if his presence was no longer continually implored, it was not 
reasonable that Clinton should continue to ask it after so many 
refusals when he had more than a single resource. 

The governor's new friends were William Smith, the histo- 
rian's father, and Robert Hunter Morris, the son of the old 
colonel. Smith had been out of politics since Cosby's time, but 
when Clinton offered him the attorney generalship, provided 
royal confirmation of the appointment could be obtained, he 
accepted it, and from that moment devoted himself to the estab- 
lishment of harmony between the legislators and officials of the 
colony. Clinton's relations with Morris, who was chief jus- 
tice of the Jerseys and a member of one of the few prominent 
families hostile to the Delanceys, had at first been merely social. 
But it took but a few fishing excursions to show each how the 
other could be of use. Morris, who was on the point of saihng 
for England to push the Jersey boundary that the Delanceys 
were opposing, wished to be lieutenant-governor of New York. 
Chnton wished to present a memorial on the state of New York 
to the king through some influential colonial. Smith says that 
CUnton agreed to further Morris's candidacy, while Morris 
promised to take charge of the memorial, and that it was de- 
cided to leave Colden in ignorance of his rival's scheme, as his 
assistance was necessary in getting up the memorial itself. Yet 

1 Smith's History, II, 129. 



A Colonial Politician 233 

Clinton continued to favour Golden in his letters home, and it 
is almost impossible to credit him with sufficient duplicity to 
say one thing and write another when so much depended on it. 
At any rate, he got what he wished. "Govr Clinton," Alex- 
ander wrote on September 25, 1749, "has bespoke . . . passage 
for Chj, Morris . . . who does not propose to sail till the middle 
of next month & it may be the end of it. Cj. M.^ thinks of going 
to Philadelphia next week. . . . I should be heartyly glad for Govr 
Clinton's sake that you were here at his return. . . . Seeing no 
man can be more willing & few more able to Serve him in Eng- 
land than Cj. Morris, & the Chief matter [that] will be wanting is 
to give him a good insight into what is to be done and into the 
materials effecting it which I think is impossible to Let him into 
So fully as you could. Cj. Morris tells me the Govr is extremely 
Chagrined with Catherwood. 

" He had rec'd a letter from him acquainting him that having 
had his accounts of a late date only, [those] concerning the Ex- 
pedition are Lost, Mislaid, or Secreted, & Desireing to bring his 
accounts with him by which it Seems likely he had possessed the 
Governor's friends with his intention of returning and conse- 
quently needless to do anything in his other affairs till he came. 
. . ." "I have received 3 Itrs from Catherwd," wrote Chnton 
in November, " the first . . . as follows — Lord Hallefax told me 
yesterday that he hoped you wou'd not leave Mr D'lancey 
your deputy in case you come home whereupon I told His 
Lordship, that I believed you had Suspended him, He asked if 
Yr Exccy had a power so to do, to which I answered yes, at which 
he was greatly pleased. . . . The next . . . Sayes he was told by 
one that I should have put him in Irons, others that I should have 
sent him home in Irons, & if no Lawyer woud prosecute I 
should have appointed a person of my own naming to have done 
it, . . . & he says has inclost * this to Dr. Colden in case of your 

^ Chief Justice Morris. 



234 Cadwallader Colden 

Absence who suppose you have appointed Lieutenant Governor* 
. . . the 17 th September ... is convinced at last I dont come 
home. . . . The Chief Justice has received letters from Sr P * 
which gauls him much . . . for it's hinted that he will be turned 
out of all. I hope Catherwood will turn out more Sincere than 
thought by Some people." " Consult M Alex.," Colden said in his 
answer. But for the next year if some especially annoying attack 
was made by the faction ; if the difficulty between Frenchmen 
and Englishmen in Nova Scotia was to be written up; if 
there was a crisis in Indian affairs; if the treasurer refused 
to recognize the governor's orders ; if the French, already plan- 
ning their march to the Ohio, were to be proved to have over- 
stepped a boundary; if some administrative suggestion was to 
be made or if some entirely new problem was to be dealt with, 
it was Colden who was consulted or asked to do what was neces- 
sary, as the case might be. It is hard, indeed, to see what was 
left for any one else to do. 

"The Gov. changed his resolution on very good grounds & 
for substantial reasons," he instructed Catherwood. "He could 
not so effectually serve his Majesty by returning to Great Britain 
... & the regard which he ought to have to his own reputation 
likewise required it. The Faction had endeavoured to persuade 
the people that the Govrs Conduct was so much blamed that his 
friends could not support him & that the Chief Justice has a 
better Interest at Court than the Govr & had he gon people 
would have been confirmed in this opinion . . . this opinion was 
exceedingly strengthened by the Govrs not having been able to 
procure anything directly from the Ministry in vindication of his 
conduct. If the Govr had gon, there probably would have been 
some grand effort made to have given some glaring instance of 
the People's Dissatisfaction. ... It did not seem prudent to run 
any risque of this kind. . . . For his bills are not paid and proba- 
bly attempts would have been made to have distressed him per- 
1 Sir Peter Warren. 



A Colonial Politician 



235 



sonally in order to satisfy their malicious peek and resentment 
& others must be persuaded that the distressing him personally 
would be the most effectual means to get their Bills speedily paid. 
I think it necessary to take notice to you of the mischievousness 
of the Methods taken by the Faction to carry their ends viz. 
by propagating the most vile and false calumnies ... of his 
Excellency's administration. ... It not only concerns the 
Ministry to discover those artij&ces which tend to destroy all 
Government . . . but every honest man who desires to enjoy 
his estate and liberty in safety. . . . 

"This unreasonable increase of popular power by which the 
proper Ballance of power essential to the English Constitution 
is entirely destroy'd in the Colonies is wholly owing to the Gov- 
ernours having no subsistence but from the Assembly. I can 
give several instances . . . where Governours have for several 
years stood firm to the Kings Instruction in Support of his pre- 
rogative & . . . after all were obliged to comply with the humours 
of the Assembly or starve or be sunk in debt. . . . Yet I am of 
opinion that there is no need of Force to recover the King's 
just prerogative. ... I am confident that if the Govr have his 
Sallary independent of the Assembly and proper Judges be 
appointed with Sallaries likewise independent of the Assembly 
& the public money put into the receiver General's hands granted 
by the King for that purpose the King's just prerogative will be 
recovered. . . . The Quitrents with the duties on Wine, rum, & 
other West India commodities will suffice. . . . 

" I am likewise of opinion that the sending at least one skillful 
lawyer from England to be Chief Justice with a proper Sallary 
is absolutely necessary not only for recovering the King's 
prerogative but for the due execution of common justice. . . . 
A Chief Justice with a powerful family is not only too hard for 
any one man in the Governmt but may prove too hard for the 
Government itself. . . ." ^ 

^ November 21, 1749. 



236 Cadwallader C olden 

The subject of the hour was the lawless career of the treasurer. 
In consequence of an address of the House of Commons to the 
king, Bedford had written to Clinton for a detailed statement 
of the paper money current in the colony. This proved a diffi- 
cult task, so difficult that it confirmed the suspicion that the 
treasurer had been reissuing bills, which had come in to be can- 
celled, for the use of the assembly. It was to prevent this very 
thing that Colden had opposed certain loosely constructed money 
bills with every argument in his power. But his failure to con- 
vince was a matter of course, and now when, after long delay 
and many fatuous excuses, the treasurer presented his statement, 
it was so clearly incorrect that he asked Ayscough if he might 
change the year "1747" to "1749" and make one or two other 
embeUishments which would improve the balance, even though 
it were at the sacrifice of accuracy. After it had been patched 
up into some sort of order, a distressing discovery was made in 
regard to the excise. The act fixing the duty included the year 
1756, but it appeared that the method of its collection was 
arranged for each year in the autumn session, the fiscal year 
beginning the ist of January. But there had been no autumn 
session in 1749, and the assembly was prorogued till the 9th of 
January, 1750. This state of affairs was first noticed by the 
opposition, and for some reason both parties at once became 
intensely excited over the subject. "His Excellency," wrote 
Ayscough to Colden, " was very easy in relation to these affairs 
depending on what you told him. . . . But on my consulting with 
Messrs. Alexander, Smith, the Mayor and Recorder this morn- 
ing, they are all of opinion . . . that the People have too good 
reason for the Rumour that is industriously spread abroad. The 
Case is thus, on a Supposition that His Excellency should meet 
the Assembly on the 9th of Jan'y next only to pass the 2 afore- 
said acts, and they should insist on not going upon Business, 
but as they said before they would not, till his Excellency had 



A Colonial Politician 237 

given a Satisfactory answer, this though irregular, and a mere 
Supposition, Yet . . . Mr. Alexander's Opinion is that the Gov- 
ernor should not meet the Assembly at this time, neither do I 
see how his Excellency can meet them till he hears from home. . . . 
The Recorder says that an act of Assembly (in case they should 
meet) can be made to retrospect. But it is Mr. Alexander's 
positive opinion it can not. His Excellency desires you would 
give yourself time, maturely to deUberate on this affair, & let 
him have as soon as possible by the Bearer your Opinion. . . . 
He takes it very unkind that you hurryed away so soon that you 
had not time to weigh well what to advise him in case anything 
should occur, by his continuing the Assembly prorogued. " ^ " As 
the manner of Dr. Ayscough's writing to me as well as the sub- 
ject of it was entirely unexpected," Golden wrote Clinton, "I 
choose to answer ... to your Excellency. It was unexpected, 
because I thought your Excellency had considered the Subject of 
it some months since at least so far that . . . upon a very little 
reflection Your Excellency would have remov'd any kind of Un- 
easiness on this occasion which those in opposition have & will 
allwise endeavour to raise . . . especially if they can impose on 
the weakness of some of Your Excellency's friends ... to make 
you uneasy. There is no doubt but that the Duty act expires 
& those Duties cannot be levied any longer but who has most 
reason to complain on this subject ? Not the merchants surely 
by their being freed from the payment of Duties. ... As to the 
excise, if anything has happen 'd of prejudice to the Excise Fund 
by the Assemblies not meeting since Septr last, Your Excellency 
cannot be blamed . . . because it was the Duty of the Assembly 
to frame the temporary and yearly acts by which the manner of 
Collecting the Excise was yearly alter'd in Such manner that the 
Excise fund should not suffer in Case Your Excellency should 
not . . . assent to a like act for the future or decide not to meet the 
^ December 22, 1749. 



238 Cadwallader Colden 

Assembly. ..." Otherwise, Colden went on to say, the gov- 
ernor's power to prorogue and to veto would practically be 
removed. He said, moreover, that, whereas two or three years 
before, the city excise was let or farmed according to the original 
act for ;i^iooo or ;)^i3oo a year, the city and county excise 
had last been let by special act to certain persons by name for 
;^740, while at the same time the excise of the whole province 
had been let for not more than the city had formerly produced 
alone. Yet owing to the increase of inhabitants it should at 
least have been double. 

Clinton was glad enough to believe all this, for he had resolved, 
supported by Colden, but opposed by Alexander and Smith, 
to dissolve the assembly without meeting it again, unless some 
news of his memorial or some encouragement from his close- 
lipped superiors should reach him. Meanwhile, all was un- 
certainty. None knew whom to trust. It was reported that Sir 
Peter Warren had written to Johnson to keep in Clinton's favour 
and on a good understanding with the chief justice. It was 
impossible to read between the lines of such "a Contradiction 
in terms," as Johnson called it, so he settled the problem by 
barely speaking to Delancey when they met. Johnson, also, 
was hinting that he could not keep on much longer without some 
appropriation, and Clinton himself had advanced much that he 
might never get back. Yet he did not even dare to summon the 
council without Colden by his side, knowing, he said, that on his 
asking their advice, they would either be silent or at least only 
"hum & haw" and ask why Colden was not sent for. He was 
disturbed by hearing that a half dozen prominent "Yorkers," 
one of whom he had thought a firm supporter, were canvassing the 
country from New York to Albany in the interest of the opposi- 
tion, while Catherwood's news was equally disquieting. Sir 
Peter, he wrote, was aiming secretly to become the New York 
governor himself, while Mr. Pelham had told Governor Shirley 



A Colonial Politician 239 

that Colden had been represented to him as a very disagreeable 
person for the presiding officer of the government — and that 
he had even been suspected of being a tool to the chief justice 
and Sir Peter by exposing the loss of the king's authority under 
Governor Clinton. 

And when the long-expected packet at length arrived, the un- 
certainty was not removed. Besides the report of an agreement 
between their Majesties of France and England there was, in- 
deed, a letter from Bedford. But his Grace only promised his 
Excellency vigorous support, if things were as he represented 
them, as he had no doubt that they were. In April, however, 
the ministry sent for a repetition of the reasons for Horsman- 
den's suspension, sent first two years before, and Colden was 
given the old heads and asked to write them up. Evidently 
something was happening at last. About this time, moreover, 
an event occurred that Colden and Clinton thought might pos- 
sibly strengthen their case.* One evening while H. M. S. 
Greyhound was cruising in the lower Hudson, a little boat 
flying a Bridger flag appeared. According to the instructions 
for the suppression of smuggling, the guns were pointed and the 
commanding officer ordered the first mate to fire in warning. 
The flag still flying, he ordered him to fire again, and this shot 
instantly killed a nursemaid on board the little boat. Unfor- 
tunately, the commander of the ship was a Captain Roddam 
with whom Clinton's daughter had eloped a year or two before. 
He was not on board at the time of the shooting, but that made 
little difference. The owner and skipper of the small boat was 
a popular young militia officer and the affair was made a party 
issue. Captain Roddam arrested the lieutenant in command to 
be sent to England for trial and despatched the mate and others 
to the coroner's inquest. But Delancey issued a warrant for 
the mate's arrest before he even knew of the results of his exami- 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 571-576. 



240 Cadwallader Colden 

nation. In vain Roddam urged that the oflfence was committed 
neither in the city nor county of New York but in the Hudson 
between New York and New Jersey, and that it was, therefore, 
cognizable by the admiralty board, sending a clause of Clinton's 
commission in proof ; and in vain CUnton ordered the attorney 
general to demand the mate's person. Delancey paid no atten- 
tion. In was then that the administration thought they saw 
their opportunity. "By the enclosed message and letters," 
Ayscough wrote Colden, "you will see the evasive Subterfuge 
of the C. J. I have shewn them to Mr. Alexander who is much 
pleased . . . and doubts not but on a proper Representation of 
the Facts this may be a finishing stroke to him . . . for such pro- 
ceedings after so sufficient notice as the copy of the clause in the 
Governor's commission, cannot be reckoned consistent with 
good Behaviour. His Excellency desires you will represent it 
in its proper light as strong as possible. . . . Smith is of Mr. 
Alexander's Opinion. ..." " Write to His Grace of Bedford 
& to the Lords of Trade. ... It may be likewise proper to write 
to the Admirahy," Colden exhorted Clinton, "not only as you 
are Governor of this Province but an Admiral of the fleet . . . 
as the proceedings in this place may greatly afifect the authority of 
the officers & the Discipline on board his Majesty's Ships in 
the Colonies and render the observance of the instructions which 
the Captains receive for preventing illicit trade difficult if not 
dangerous to them. I am of opinion that the Chief Justice will 
release or deliver up the gunner's mate the next court on his 
pleading to the jurisdiction & thereby excuse his past conduct. 
But this Your Excelly is not to trust to nor on such expectation 
to delay your giving the proper informations. Your Excelly 
I suppose will leave the C. J. to proceed as he shall think proper 
without any interposition on your part unless he proceed to a 
Condemnation in which case you have the power of repriev- 
ing. ..." 



A Colonial Politician 241 

Indeed, Smith to the contrary, Colden and Clinton had never 
been on more friendly terms. "I propose setting out for the 
high lands about the 5th of next month," wrote Clinton, June 29, 
1750, "and ... I am determined to make you a Visit at Col- 
denham about the loth but now Dear Colden no Fuss. . . ." "On 
my arrival I found ... a Letter from Mr. Catherwood," he wrote 
on the 19th of July. "Mr. Holland and Coll. Johnson are both 
appointed of the Council ... & no mention of Mr. Alexander's 
being restored which as I imagine has made Mr. Rutherford 
and him change their note about a dissolution. C. Justice 
Morris is at Bath & Lord HaUifax is there too so that nothing 
can be done in any other affair till he returns from Bath. There- 
fore I must desire you will set out immediately . . . that I may 
consult with you for I have already gave private notice to Colonel 
Hicks Morris & the persons who are in my interest in King's 
County that I proposed a Dissolution, this being an Affair that 
requires your Advice to me as well as talking to Messrs Alexander 
and Rutherford. ..." "Capt. Roddams's Gunner's mate was 
found guilty, of manslaughter, C. Justice on the bench," wrote 
Asycough on August 8th, " notwithstanding it was the opinion of 
every one when the Point of Law was argued before him the day 
before by Mr. Smith and Mr. Murray that the former's Asser- 
tions were so Strong that every one thought it must have went in 
favour of the Commissioners of the Admiralty to take cognizance 
of it & Mr. Smith was ready to prove his Assertions by the Books 
but it was not allowed, the C. J. saying he was fully persuaded 
it was cognizable in Banco Regis ... I hope to get you by the 
time you come down the arguments on both sides for your assist- 
ance in reporting the case home. Oliver entered his appearance 
the first day of the term. His Excellcy desires you will not, by 
any means, fail being down by the 28th at furthest that he may 
be prepared to meet the Assembly, which he proposes to do 
fair and Softly and see what that will do with them. ..." 



242 Cadwallader Colden 

X 

It was a new assembly of which Ayscough wrote. For when 
the report of the agents that definite news was near was followed 
by the announcement that the case of New York would not be 
considered before the king's return from Hanover, Clinton de- 
termined to risk an election on the strength of the appointment 
of two of his own nominees, Holland and Johnson, to the coun- 
cil. The government was being run on credit and the creditors 
were getting tired ; CUnton had himself paid for Oswego for a 
year and he was getting tired ; and it was necessary to check the 
French. They were indefatigable: setting English Indians on 
each other and on the Indians to the east, the west, and the 
south ; supplying Indians on the way to Oswego with necessities 
at a reduction and with brandy and rum gratis ; claiming vast 
stretches of country with Gallic ceremony ; and forbidding the 
natives to admit the English under heavy penahies. "Mr. 
Weiser [an interpreter] is just returned from Onondago," 
wrote Franklin to Colden in October, "and gives a melancholy 
account of the declining State of the EngUsh and Encrease of the 
French Interest among the Six Nations. I hope the Interview 
intended with them by your Government will be a means of 
securing their Attachment to the British Nation. I wish you all 
the Satisfaction that Ease and Retirement from Publick Busi- 
ness can possibly give you. But let not your Love of Philo- 
sophical Amusements have more than its due weight with you. 
Had Newton been Pilot but of a single common Ship, and left 
it in the hour of danger, the finest of his Discoveries would scarce 
have excus'd or allowed for abandoning the Helm one hour in 
time of Danger. How much less if she haid carried the Fate of 
the Commonwealth. . . ." * 

As this implies, the assembly had met with Colden at Coldeng- 
ham. There were six new members, but Jones was still speaker, 

1 October ii, 1750. 



A Colonial Politician 243 

and the old-time leaders were in their places. They feared, 
however, that the governor would reject their support bill, 
just as he feared that they might refuse to present one. For 
the creditors did not all blame Chnton, and there were many 
complaints of the selfishness of party. Their fears, of course, 
proved groundless. Clinton urged the wisdom and necessity 
of conforming to those instructions framed by the great ministers 
of the Revolution, but he promised the speaker to pass all bills 
as they were framed in Clark's time, and then wrote to Colden 
to make his excuses to the Duke of Bedford and the Board of 
Trade. When, moreover, the assembly refused him an appro- 
priation for a treaty with the Ohio Indians and the governor of 
Pennsylvania, because Pennsylvania would get the benefit with- 
out the work, he merely said that he would give his time and ser- 
vices if they would meet the expenses. So most of the debts 
were paid, a civil hst granted, and the governor promised a new 
house and stable, while the assembly was adjourned without a 
break in the calm. "His Excellency . . . wants your advice now 
as ever he did at anytime," wrote Asy cough, "but he will endeavor 
to do the best he can without it." Yet it is doubtful if Colden 
would have permitted such a surrender of the principles laid 
down by the administration as Clinton had allowed himself. 
"I expected a particular account in what manner the affairs 
of the Assembly concluded . . . , " he said to Clinton in regard 
to some letters he had written to England at the governor's 
request. "Without this I could not form what Your Excellency 
desired of me as I wished. ... I hear that the Assembly has com- 
plied with your private concerns and I very heartily give you joy 
of it not only for the immediate use it is of to yourself & family 
but that by this it will appear that the real ground of dispute 
with Your Excellcy was not from anything personal . . . but from 
your Indeavours to support the King's Authority . . . and that 
now the Ministry may see that Your Excellcy can be as well as 



244 Cadwallader Colden 

to your own private Interest with an Assembly of New York 
as any other Governor if you would consider more the pleasing 
of them than your Duty to the king and that upon such terms 
you doubt not to have the same men who exclaim'd against you 
to represent your Excellcy as a man of the strictest honour and 
integrity." 

"At this time," Clinton repUed, quoting an English friend, 
"the Plantations engage ye whole Thoughts of the Men in power, 
and your Province in particular and C. J. Morris is extreamly 
dilligent and . . . extreamly well received. . . . There has been a 
great Council at ye Cock Pit . . . what is concluded on is not yet 
known but soon will be as ye Lords of Trade are ordered to draw 
up a State of these 2 Provinces (New York and New Jersey) 
to be laid before ye Council together with their opinion what 
Measures will be proper to restore and estabHsh ye King's 
Authority. ... I intend Proroguing the Assembly to the 8 of 
June next, and won't say I will come & fetch you but I beUeve 
I shall. . . ." "You have been his [the governor's] toast every 
of those three times that I have been in company with him," 
Alexander reported cheerfully, "and Fryday night Mrs. Chnton 
found fault with his toasting of you for that you were her Con- 
stant toast. ..." 

But there was a fine air of patronizing disapproval about 
Colden 's last letter that worried Chnton. He had given Colden 
all he asked. He had made one son commissary of the levies, 
another storekeeper of the Fort and clerk of Albany County, 
and he had done all he could to make Colden himself heutenant- 
governor. Yet his hearty kindness was certainly not reflected 
in his old adviser's possibly sarcastic felicitations, though the 
adviser was planning to appeal to it once more. The mandamus 
for the restoration of Alexander to the council had at length 
arrived, and that good friend lost no time in using his new posi- 
tion to get Colden at least one thing he wanted. Hence it was 



A Colonial Politician 245 

decided that Golden should apply for a commission as sur- 
veyor general during good behaviour, to be granted to himself 
and his eldest son jointly, with reversion to his son at his death. 
He also wrote a personal note asking the governor's influence, 
and sent both note and application to Alexander to use as he 
judged best. "Mr. Kennedy Sent me word this morning," 
wrote the new councillor on January 2, 1751, "that his Ex- 
cellency would see Company at noon, & Rutherford, he & I 
agreed to go together. . . . Instead of a deed of trust I Drew 
the form of a power from your son to you to Execute solely 
the office during your Life, with power to Set his name with 
your own to all things to pass in the office, with covenant to 
execute no part of the office personally during your Life without 
your express order in writing . . . and Least objections might be 
to the Granting i office to 2 persons I made some extracts from 
the present State of Great Britain printed in 1720 of a Single 
office granted to two & sometimes to three persons. ... I also 

then got the commission Engrost in parchment Since writing 

the above I have waited on his Excellency. After the Company 
was gone his Excellency called me and we had almost half an 
hour's Conversation on your affairs, the result whereof was that 
he would call a council to morrow morning & would Send be- 
forehand & speak to the Mayor. . . . You'll wonder how we 
came to talk so long on that affair, In short his Excellency 
expresst Some apprehensions of your being Dissatisfied, reca- 
pitulated reasons why you ought not and reasons for his appre- 
hensions, among others the bad Success he had in giving a Com- 
mission in that manner to the Chief Justice, which I obviated 
with the best reasons in my power and said that Acquaintance 
with you above 33 years rendered me well assured of the im- 
possibility of your making a Like return for this favour as the 
Chief Justice had done in the like case. 

" One of the reasons for his apprehensions was a Letter he told 



246 Cadwallader Colden 

me he had received from you . . . with some things more biteing 
than he had Expected. I think it would not be amiss you 
lookt over your Coppies or recollect what could give offense in 
any of your Letters, and if you can Discover anything that way 
to apologize for it. Your daughter's illness is a sufficient 
foundation. 

" One of the reasons why you ought not to be Dissatisfied was 
that he had kept the office of Secretary of Indian Affairs open 
for you, that he had Several times proposed giving you a Com- 
mission for that purpose, that he had wrote home to prevent 
any Commission passing there, that wen Catherwood had wrote 
to him that Coll. Johnson had recommended Lidius to him for 
that Commission ... he wrote him back to oppose it to him 
or any one else but if the thing was pusht by any to insist on 
your being the person to whom the Commission should go, that 
his Exy did [not] remember your reasons for dechneing accept- 
ing the Commission from him. As I had no orders to his 
Exy on this head, I only declared I was not acquainted with 
your apprehensions. I submit whether it may not be proper to 
communicate them to me, which with a brief letter to His Excel- 
lency on that head acknowledging his favour therein may be a 
good introduction to talk on that matter. . . ."^ "I am just 
returned from the Council," he added the next day with friendly 
repetition, " where the affair was agreed to nemine contradi- 
cente, Mr. Murray was indisposed so not there ... the Ex- 
amples collected were of use. ... I think it highly necessary 
to root out those apprehensions exprest to me, it's impossible in 
person to do it at this time of year. But a Letter Carefully 
Penned I beUeve may do as well, — if you find anything in 
your Letters that you think could give offense, that together 
with this favour of the Commission I think may be the foun- 
dation of this Letter. If you can see nothing, then cite me for 

^ January 2, 1750/ i. 



A Colonial Politician 247 

having given you the hint . . . and say that the Lowness of 
Spirits by the Indisposition of your daughter might have suf- 
fered something to be expressed by you that were it not for that 
you should not have done so. I beg pardon for going so far 
in a thing that you knew much better how to do also to render 
him thanks for what he talked to me on the head of the Secre- 
taryship of Indian affairs, with a brief hint of the reasons of 
your declineing them & your readyness now to accept the 
Commission & if he will join your son in it will greatly in- 
crease the favour. . . . When these apprehensions are fully 
removed & that Commission had I am in . . . hopes that 
... the Government shall be Left in your hands as presi- 
dent ... if your letter . . . even went so far as to express an 
abhorrence of the ungrateful return of a Certain person, . . . 
I believe it would not be amiss. ..." 

Despite this disinterested insistence, Colden softened into 
neither impetuous denial nor warm apology. "Your Excel- 
lency will never find me ungratefull," he calmly assured the 
governor. "Mr. Alexander tells me," he went on, "that Your 
Excellency was displeased with somthing in my letter. . . . 
This has given me a great deal of both surprise & uneasiness. 
I am sure nothing could have been further from my intention 
than writing or doing anything that I thought could be dis- 
agreeable ... to you & therefor I must think that your Excellency 
will . . . soon be convinced it can bear no such construction 
however unhappy I may have been in expressing myself & for 
which the circumstances of my family at the time may plead. 
. . . Pray offer my Duty to Mrs. Clinton and please to 
make my acknowledgements to her friendly good offices on 
many occasions. ..." "Your late acts of particular friend- 
ship," he wrote to Alexander the same day,^ " are such as I 
cannot properly acknowledge in words and I beUeve you do 
1 January 17, 1750/ i. 



248 Cadwallader Colden 

not expect I should. Some part of your letter really surprised 
me ... for I had no intention to displease him but otherwise. 
I have lookt over my Copies and cannot discover any reason 
for his displeasure & therefore, beg of you to desire a sight 
of my letter & to inform the Govr that I desire you to do it 
that I may excuse myself. . . . My last letters were to be a 
foundation of his for the D of B & Lds of Trade in excuse 
for his meeting the Assembly & receiving the Sallary in the 
manner he did. My intention was to make the best excuse 
consistent with truth & which I still think I did. Going from 
the truth could neither be of use to him nor me, therefor, I 
hope he did not take amiss my keeping close to it. . . . 

"As to the Secretary's ofiSce for Indian affairs I shall truly 
tell you my past thoughts, i. No profits besides the Sallary of 
the office can attend the execution of it. 2. The Govr^s Com- 
mission cannot give the Sallary annexed to it. 3. As there had 
been great pains taken to give the D of B and N and Mr. Pel- 
ham prejudices against me ... I could not expect that any- 
thing would be done by the Ministry in my favour till these 
prejudices were removed. ..." This letter Alexander decided 
to send to the governor, and when Ayscough, who acted as 
messenger, returned it, he also brought the cause of offence 
which he asked Alexander to read. And Alexander did read 
it over and over again without finding, as he told Ayscough, 
an objectionable word. This ended the episode; but before 
he left, Ayscough informed Colden 's good friend that the mayor 
had asked and received the promise of the secretaryship of 
Indian affairs. "I believe," said Alexander, "that he saw me 
change colour." 

In December, 1750, Clinton had applied for leave of absence 
for twelve months, in order to regain his health and arrange his 
private affairs. Still unwilling to leave Colden, and still afraid 
to follow Colden 's advice, it was probably at his suggestion that 



A Colonial Politician 249 

Chief Justice Morris and two of Clinton's agents presented 
certain questions to the solicitor general and attorney general 
of England. Though Clinton's commission empowered him 
expressly to suspend the lieutenant-governor, and appoint 
another in his place, and provided for the succession in case of 
the governor's death, or absence, were such an appointment 
not made, they nevertheless asked: Could Clinton bring De- 
lancey's commission home, could he disregard it and appoint 
another, or could he swear Delancey in, and then suspend him 
and name a successor ? The significant clause of the commission 
was prefixed, but the two law officers had replied that Clinton 
should beg the king to appoint another or empower him to do 
so, and Catherwood at once memoriahzed the king accord- 
ingly.* Meanwhile, Clinton seemed in actual terror of Delancey. 
He was afraid to be left alone in the city with him, and when 
Alexander was about to leave for **the Jersies," of whose coun- 
cil he was also a member, both he and Clinton implored Colden's 
presence. 

Clinton, indeed, had still no reason to feel encouraged. As 
far as exact knowledge went the success of Morris's mission 
was uncertain after nearly two years' work, and the report of 
the Board of Trade had only just reached the Privy Council. 
Something of its tenor was indicated, to be sure, by the confirma- 
tion of Clinton's nominees, Holland, Alexander, and Johnson, 
while the assembly's agent, Mr. Charles, had hinted of minis- 
terial disapproval of his chents. But he had been unable either 
to get a copy of the report, or learn one of its provisions. He 
could only tell of its size. It consisted of a whole quire of paper, 
he reported, with quires more as appendix, and on another 
occasion he announced with regret that it was contained in 
whole volumes of paper of which he was denied a sight. There 
was no reason, moreover, why the consideration of this huge 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 612-614. 



250 Cadwallader Colden 

document should take less time than its compilation. Indeed, 
it might take more, for Bedford, no longer able to stand New- 
castle's fussy jealousy, had resigned, and there had been other 
changes in the ministry to which Clinton had appealed. Hah- 
fax, who was at least businesslike and ambitious for his coun- 
try as well as himself, fortunately remained at the head of Board 
of Trade, but unfortunately, Bedford, a peer of ability and real, 
if narrow, patriotism, was succeeded by Robert Darcey, Earl 
of Holderness, who up to that time had been too much absorbed 
in private theatricals and masquerades to have given much 
time to affairs of state. "In reality he did justice to himself 
and his patrons," Walpole says, "for he seemed ashamed of 
being made so considerable for no reason, but because he was 
so inconsiderable." Amid so much uncertainty, one thing, 
however, seemed certain. Robert Hunter Morris was to be 
lieutenant-governor of New York, and Colden was to gain noth- 
ing from the agitation which he had done more than any one man 
to bring about. This news came authoritatively from Major 
Rutherford, who was in London on leave, and he reported as 
well that the ministry had received a bad impression of his 
friend. About this time also Colden was disappointed in an 
application for the position of postmaster general. For 
though he had written Alexander, less than a year before, that 
he expected to spend the rest of his life in industrious retire- 
ment, he had evidently changed his mind. Too much of a 
pedant to be a skilful politician, Colden was yet too much of a 
pohtician to be an entirely absorbed philosopher. He had, 
however, been working on a subject that touched both phases 
of his temperament. 

Since the close of King George's war the New York adminis- 
tration had been playing an admirable part in Indian affairs. 
Wherever France intruded, there New York tried to meet 
her or see that she was met, while using- every argument to 



A Colonial Politician 



251 



instill a like sense of responsibility in the other colonies. 
A special effort had been made to bring together at Albany, 
this summer of 1751, all the colonial governors and repre- 
sentatives of the Indians in their alHance. But though the 
governors were willing, their assemblies were not, and South 
Carolina, with six Catawbas, and Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut, with no Indians at all, were alone represented. Indeed, 
Clinton's own assembly refused to give more than the ;^i5o 
usually given for the annual Indian treaty, until pressure of 
some sort sent the speaker to Clinton to say that the treasurer 
should be directed to advance ;;^2oo more. And this, though 
it was the first treaty in four years. The fact was that the 
assembly had never forgiven the transfer of Indian management 
from their friends, the commissioners, to Johnson, which had 
been at least in part the result of Colden's first advice to Clinton. 
Johnson was a trader himself, and many Indians whose way took 
them by his house found it unnecessary to go to Albany, or even 
to Oswego, where a colony of traders whose interest was not that 
of the Indians had sprung up. Besides, Johnson was unas- 
sailably honest and independent. So his salary was unpaid long 
after much later debts had been settled, his services in keeping 
the Iroquois from going to Canada to make a separate peace 
were told over to unenthusiastic ears, and the administration's 
broad Indian policy was regarded with perfect indifference. 

Such as it was, the Indian conference was held in July, and 
while still full of its suggestions Colden, at Clinton's request, 
wrote a "state" of Indian affairs with propositions for their 
betterment. The result was perhaps one of the earhest pleas 
for the treatment of the Indian as a man and a brother. As 
matters stood, Colden made it clear, he was roundly cheated, 
the Oswego set and the Albany set vying to fleece him, and yet 
he was almost totally deprived of the benefits of the law. His 
word was not admitted as evidence, and he was obliged to fee 



252 Cadwallader C olden 

a lawyer, take out a writ, file a declaration, and then wait for 
justice, sometimes for a year. And while the English and 
Dutch were thus bullying him to their liking, the French were 
planning the destruction of his independence with more system, 
but equal indifference to his welfare. They proposed to have 
a fort and trading posts at each harbor on the Great Lakes, 
where they might first win the Indians by selling under cost, 
and then, when strong enough, sell at a profit and force them to 
buy. The French commandant at Niagara, for instance, was 
told to undersell the English, though it cost thirty thousand 
livres. Golden, however, still thought that the French could 
be easily beaten in the struggle for Indian control. Given, he 
said, Indian goods free of duties; Indian equality before the 
law ; a superintendent of Indian affairs of ability, with no trading 
connections, with authority to prevent and redress grievances, 
and with a good salary and provisions for assistance ; as many 
missionaries as possible, but subject to the superintendent; 
a sloop to cruise on Lake Ontario, and another fort on its south- 
em shore ; and, finally, to pay for all this, a duty on the consump- 
tion of wine and spirits, and he would answer for a vast improve- 
ment in the Indians themselves and their loyalty to the English.* 
But when, at the autumn session, Chnton asked the assembly 
for an appropriation for Indian affairs, it was refused unless 
it could be expended by assembly nominees ; and this Clinton 
refused, especially as some or all of these were engaged in the 
trade between Albany and Canada. 

Clinton's cabinet now contained more than one, or even two, 
members. In addition to Holland, Alexander, Johnson, and 
Rutherford, — who, to be sure, was away, — the deaths of Attor- 
ney General Bradford and Judge Phillipse during the summer 
had given Clinton an opportunity to make William Smith and 
John Chambers his official supporters. Still, Alexander wrote 

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., VI, 738-747. 



A Colonial Politician 253 

Golden as usual that his presence at the opening of the autumn 
session of the assembly was absolutely necessary. It was well, 
however, that Golden thought otherwise, for among these new 
men, conservative but of naturally Whig sympathies and in- 
fluenced by no quixotic disregard of expediency. Golden 's 
stiff devotion to a narrow governmental ideal would have found 
little sympathy. Hence with all the governor's new strength, 
Delancey held his own in that assembly, and Glinton went with- 
out copies of the assembly's addresses; without a support bill 
conforming to the commission and instructions; without an 
Indian appropriation; and never complained because the as- 
sembly found fault with everything from the way he had sent 
out the notices to the way in which he had managed the Indians. 
But having been thus submissive, he dissolved them without 
the least warning, and to their great discomfiture and the general 
amusement. 

But as the faction controlled the elections, the dissolution 
did little good. And control them they did, for though the 
administration made most elaborate plans for the campaign, 
out of twenty-seven members twelve returned were relatives 
or intimate friends of Delancey. Some of these, moreover, 
controlled the votes of a part of the remaining fifteen, so that a 
majority was more than assured. In England, on the other 
hand, the case of Glinton vs. Delancey was making some pro- 
gress. The Privy Gouncil had actually rushed the consideration 
of the Board of Trade's report, approved it the preceding 
August, and ordered the board to draught instructions embody- 
ing their suggestions. But New York only knew that Robert 
Hunter Morris was unquestionably not going to be lieutenant- 
governor of the province. Early in 1752, however, Gatherwood 
had written of an unusually satisfactory interview with HaHfax. 
His Lordship had expressed great regard for Clinton, had shown 
much interest in his problems, and had asked many pertinent 



254 Cddwallader Colden 

questions, thus giving the agent an opportunity which, accord- 
ing to his own account, he had improved to the utmost. He 
had, he said, assured his Lordship that, if there was any objec- 
tion to Chief Justice Morris, Mr. Colden would fill the office of 
lieutenant-governor with dignity, while he could doubtless 
bring the long struggle with the assembly to a successful con- 
clusion. And when HaHfax had asked how he could do this 
alone, when "a man of quality" had failed to do it with his 
assistance, Catherwood promptly replied that his failure was 
due to the poHcy of the English government. Clinton, too, 
was again urging Colden's appointment with enthusiastic 
friendliness, even though he was smarting under the suspicion 
that Colden had not treated him well in regard to the province 
lands. Certain personal friends who wanted land themselves 
had told the governor that Colden was holding up patents in order 
to get the fees after CUnton had left the province, and could 
no longer claim his share. Clinton did not know whether to 
beUeve them or not, and for days his private secretary was kept 
busy bringing complaints from the Fort to Mr. Alexander, and 
returning with explanations. All of which Colden himself took 
coolly enough. Apparently Alexander's comforting declara- 
tion that he believed the misunderstanding due "to meer mis- 
apprehension and lowness of Spirits by his being alone without 
cheerful company" was not necessary. 

In truth, neither depression nor dull society nor the slander 
of the disappointed was the reason for Clinton's instinctive 
uneasiness. Colden had become tired of him and his concerns, 
and he doubtless showed it. To some extent weariness must 
have been the portion of every one interested in the Board of 
Trade's report. For in New York the summer of 1752 was as 
barren of news as had been the summer of 1751. Nor did they 
know much more at home. Newcastle had gone to Hanover 
with the king, having valiantly refused to set foot in any boat 



A Colonial Politician 255 

but Lord Cardigan's yacht, which had lately escaped a great 
storm ; Holderness was playing bUndman's buff at Tunbridge, 
for which he was later in disgrace; and London seemed 
asleep. 

But what annoyed Golden most was Clinton's vacillation. 
Months before he had written that if the next ship failed to bring 
definite news he would suspend Delancey immediately. Yet he 
was still asking the same questions about his ability to do so, 
still receiving a fine assortment of answers. One day in July 
the governor, Judge Chambers, and Alexander lunched at a 
tavern, and decided after a most silly discussion that the chief 
justice must be summoned to take the oaths at once ; and then 
the same three, with the mayor and Receiver General Kennedy, 
dined at another tavern, and decided to wait until the next ship 
arrived from England.^ To Colden, whose opinion had never 
changed, such hesitation was maddening. Naturally enough, 
he determined not to go down for the assembly, but Clinton 
was as aggrieved as if such a refusal were a new thing, and 
wrote begging Alexander to urge him to change his mind. 
Colden himself, he recalled, had said that, if he should desert 
the governor now, it might be well said that he had served him 
before for "Lucre." ^ Nevertheless, Colden was absent from the 
short session, with its short curt speech, its shorter address, 
presented unheralded, the governor's still shorter reply, and his 
prompt adjournment after the passage of the most necessary 
bills in the old form. For though CUnton had frequently 
protested that he would not call the new assembly together 
before leaving, he had been obliged as usual to alter his 
plans. 

Clinton was right in saying that Colden had given his enemies 
cause for suspicion. These now said that he had thrown the 

* Alexander to Colden, July 10, 1752. 

* Governor CUnton to Alexander, October 7, 1752. 



256 Cadwallader Colden 

governor over the moment he found out that his success in 
making New York unpleasant to Clinton and Clinton contemp- 
tible to the ministry was not to be rewarded. But that Colden 
had championed prerogative for personal reasons only, is un- 
thinkable. Ambitious as he might be, he was sincerely react- 
tionary in his pohtics, and could not have followed a different line 
of action had he tried. On the other hand, he showed the lack 
of a fine sense of honour in his treatment of CUnton. For, as 
will be seen, he did even more than drop him. 

At last, convinced that he could not be heutenant-governor, 
in August, 1752, Colden appHed to Halifax for a salary out of 
the quit-rents as surveyor general. This his Lordship pro- 
nounced impossible, as the accounts of the auditor general 
proved that already the pay roll of the New York establish- 
ment exceeded its income. He also declined discussing New 
York affairs in detail, the appointment of Clinton's successor 
making it, he said, unnecessary for him to go into "so distant 
a Subject." But he commended Colden 's course, somewhat 
perfunctorily, it is true, and assured him that while it had been 
deemed impolitic to permit the suspension of Delancey, it was 
certainly not because Colden had been considered unfit to pre- 
side over the government. At this mild praise Colden was 
much pleased, and did not require Clinton's admonition to 
write again at once. For Clinton was positively eager with 
delight over the possible improvement in his friend's prospects, 
and was planning to further it all he could when he went home. 
A more encouraging letter arrived in September, and then, 
after waiting six months or more, Colden wrote again. He also 
asked CoUinson to find out if his appeal was received, adding 
that, as the thought that he had advised Clinton might 
affect it, he would say that many things had been done without 
his knowledge and others without his advice. When, more- 
over, he learned how Collinson had been received by Halifax, 



A Colonial Politician 257 

"in a very affable manner"; how "many Hansome things," 
his Lordship had said of Golden himself; how he regretted 
that he had "embarked with the late Governour," though the 
governor "otherwise might have gone to greater lengths"; 
and how unsatisfactory was the financial prospect since Mr. 
Pelham's death, Golden wrote his friend an account of his con- 
nection with the late administration/ The principal charges 
against Glinton, he affirmed, were his payment of the forces 
and his sale of offices, and he could prove by writing under 
Chnton's hand, that in both these points his own advice had 
been rejected. This was all very well. It is exasperating to 
suffer for having advised what you opposed, but if Golden did 
not know what he was doing when he assumed the responsi- 
bihty for GUnton's administration, he must have known very 
soon after, and, having chosen his part, he should have been 
brave enough to accept the consequences. 

Meanwhile, the GHnton administration had come to its end. 
The confirmation of William Smith as a member of council 
against the candidacy of Golonel Lewis Morris and Ohver De- 
lancey had been another intimation of the ministry's intention, 
and the last meeting of the assembly under Glinton was a love 
feast. An even more significant fact was the transmutation 
of Johnson into a popular favourite. GHnton, urged to meet 
the Indians, had said that under the circumstances he would 
meet them only by commission, and then, in all seriousness, 
he was presented with a joint address signed by James Delancey 
and David Jones, humbly hoping he would " commissionate " 
WilUam Johnson as the most popular person to represent him. 
Golden was greatly encouraged. Evidently prerogative was to 
be upheld, and the assembly knew it, and if it was, who so 
able to assist the new governor as himself? He thought, as he 

* October 4, 1754. 



258 Cadwallader Colden 

afterward told Franklin, that he would be obliged to stay in 
New York, for HaUfax certainly appreciated his devotion to 
principle. And then that happened which none could have 
foreseen. Sir Danvers Osborne arrived, bearing instructions 
which, Walpole said, "seemed better calculated for the latitude 
of Mexico and for a Spanish tribunal than for a free, rich British 
settlement," and took the oaths of his office. Walpole 's opinion 
was that of an extreme Whig, who knew Uttle of American con- 
ditions, but the instructions were sufficiently severe, and when 
Osborne, naturally diffident, and in deep personal grief, saw 
the open disrespect accorded to his predecessor by the people on 
the day of his inauguration, and realized the part he had to play, 
he could not stand the strain and committed suicide early the 
next morning. 

This made James Delancey the head of the province after 
all, and Colden promptly retired, says the continuation of 
Smith's history, " cheated by his friends and disappointed by 
the administration, under the scoff of his enemies and the gen- 
eral contempt of the people." ^ The first statement, at least, 
is not true. Colden's friends were friends for life, and for the 
next seven years they kept him, as they had before, completely 
in touch with the life of which he was no longer a part. But 
with the majority his reputation was fixed for the bad ; he had 
lost his opportunities so entirely that his greatest opportunity, 
which was to come, was scarcely to be an opportunity at all, 
men's minds had hardened toward him to such a degree ; and, 
above all, with all his interests, all his learning, all his real 
worth, he had learned no lesson from experience. Of how 
to subordinate himself, how to study another's point of view, 
how to value his opponents and even his inferiors, or, indeed, 
how necessary it was to learn these things, he was as ignorant 

* Smith's History, II, 162. 



A Colonial Politician 259 

as in the beginning. And thus one link, and an important one, 
had been forged in that chain which was to drag England and 
her American colonies apart, for Golden had retired as a poU- 
tician, but he was to reappear as chief of the province, and, 
with all his prejudices and Umitations, was to attempt to guide 
her through the most critical period of her history. 



A COLONIAL EXECUTIVE 



It is one thing for a man to win a coveted position in the 
presence of his enemies, and to the discomfiture of his rival ; 
it is quite another w^hen, long after his own defeat, he slips by 
mere right of succession into the place made vacant by the death 
of his quondam antagonist, now eternally triumphant. So 
Cadwallader Golden must have thought when one day in 
August, 1760, an express came to his Ulster manor house with 
the news that James Delancey had suddenly died, and that as 
senior councillor the headship of the administration was his. 
For many years his zeal for the crown, displayed with con- 
scientious tactlessness, had rendered him the most unpopu- 
lar man in the province; for many years with unimpeachable 
logic he had demonstrated to an English ministry his own 
loyalty and Delancey's poUtical pliabiHty ; for many years he 
had sought the lieutenant-governorship, first merely to satisfy 
his own honest ambition, but later, to disprove the all too appar- 
ent truth, that England gave her favours as it suited her con- 
venience or caprice, and not as justice demanded. Yet an un- 
grateful government had given the honour to Delancey himself, 
and had disregarded all prayers for its revocation. Golden, 
however, did not despair until by the death of Sir Danvers 
Osborne, the newly arrived governor, Delancey became com- 
mander-in-chief of the province. Then at last he felt that for 
him political ambition had become an absurdity. He fled the 
town, and, save on special occasions, had never returned. 

260 



A Colonial Executive 261 

But he was compelled to hear how Delancey had played his 
part ; how he made many of the same demands, and said many 
of the same things which had been called outrageous when made 
or said by Golden and Clinton ; and how his admiring followers 
insisted that his apparent inconsistency was mere politic def- 
erence to a power that he would be sure to manipulate for their 
benefit. Fortunately, Golden had little imagination, while at 
the same time he never permitted himself to criticise the judg- 
ment of his superiors. Hence, though the summons found him 
engaged in a dozen schemes of experiment and research, under- 
taken in the hope of yet discovering some great truth which 
should rescue his name from the obscurity he dreaded, he threw 
them lightly aside, and reentered his old world with enthusiasm, 
his old aims reviving and new schemes for their accomplish- 
ment springing to life as he went. This showed unusual 
adaptability for a man of seventy- three ; and for one whose 
memories were so far from inspiring, it was marvellous. Here 
at last, he said to himself, was an opportunity to realize his 
political ideals, to strengthen the prerogative, to work for the 
crown, and so for its subjects ; yet he would use it with such 
complaisance that it would be impossible for the most radical 
"Independent" to find fault; here was an excuse for renewing 
his correspondence with some of the great men of England; 
above all, here was an opportunity to press his claims to be 
lieutenant-governor, and perhaps this time they would be satis- 
fied. 

Fate had chosen for his return a moment which we would 
now call psychologic. One of the most brilliant contests that 
England had ever waged, with seats of war in three continents, 
was nearly over; its climax in America was but three weeks 
away. That event, which Golden himself had made his first 
political object forty years before, and for which he had worked 
ever since, that event for which American mothers had long 



262 Cadwallader Colden 

taught their children to pray, was about to be consummated 
and New France was to disappear. And though the prosecu- 
tion of the campaign of which this was the outcome had been 
due largely to the enthusiasm of an Enghshman, and though 
English blood and English money had been lavishly expended 
on the American wing of the conflict, the colonies had responded 
nobly to Pitt's requisitions, and felt justly proud of the part 
they had taken. To be sure, the successful engagements had 
been fought by British regulars alone, and the provincials had 
been present at the defeats. But while the generals laid the 
blame on the lack of disciphne in the volunteer ranks, every 
colonial had something to say of the poor strategy, the inertia, 
and even the downright cowardice of some of the British com- 
manders. Ten thousand provincials had exclaimed with amaze- 
ment when Abercrombie gave orders for the retreat at Ticon- 
deroga, and a little book criticising the conduct of the war in 
America, written by an American civilian, was pubhshed and 
widely read in England.* On the other hand, many a British 
officer had learned to respect the undoubted courage he saw in 
the colonial Unes, and such daring as Wolfe's could not fail to 
win enthusiastic appreciation even among the matter-of-fact 
farmers and merchants of New England. In short, the war had 
made EngHshmen on either side the Atlantic more real to each 
other. But it was the ultimate rather than the immediate 
results of the conquest of Canada that were to change the des- 
tiny of nations, and of these, no one, not even Colden, was 
thinking just then. 

Yet in Colden's own colony the Crown, which he had long 
prophesied might some day see its American dependencies 

1 " A Review of the Military Operations in North America," etc., written by 
William Livingston or the younger Smith and published anonymously in 1758. 
See note on this subject in appendix to Jones's " History of New York during 
the Revolutionary War," p. 426. 



A Colonial Executive 263 

become independent, had lost ground during his retirement. 
It will be remembered that the continuous complaint of the 
Clinton-Colden administration had neither brought honours 
to the plaintiffs nor disgrace to Chief Justice Delancey, who 
was named as principal defendant. Instead, new instruc- 
tions had been issued to the new governor enforcing the obser- 
vance of the old, especially those on finance, with penalties so 
severe that when Sir Danvers had seen the sort of men with 
whom he must deal, he Uterally died rather than fight it out. 
His death brought about a situation full of interest, for it left 
the government in Delancey's hand, and made him the pre- 
sumptive champion of the system on which he had led the 
attack. But his enemies had no cause to congratulate them- 
selves. Delancey was too easily dominant in New York, his 
personal popularity was too transcendant, and the social leader- 
ship of his family too firmly grounded, for him to feel the slight- 
est anxiety. At first he talked the language of his predecessors, 
but it was understood to be part of the game, and there was no 
murmuring, a mark of confidence which proved to be well placed, 
for while the legislature disregarded the instructions as before, 
he disregarded the penalties which were his to inflict, and long 
before his death the home government had ceased to command 
or even urge the revival of the fiscal regulations in force when 
the instructions were framed. Nor were these ever pressed 
again; the assembly had won the control of the purse. 

Delancey was apparently, indeed, a law unto himself. 
Though it was an open secret that he bought the return of 
"Old Mother Hardy," the only governor appointed during his 
seven years' administration ; though he swindled a whole regi- 
ment out of its rights with consummate effrontery; though 
he dared retain his office of chief justice without performing 
its duties, and so was chief justice, chancellor, and governor 
all at once; and though he made many slips as commander- 



264 Cadwallader Colden 

in-chief, he reached almost the close of his career without re- 
ceiving a sensible check. Some of the most soUd men in the 
colony, to be sure, were not his friends. To these his shallow 
brilliancy, his surface good-nature, his official dishonesty, were 
most distasteful, but they had little liking or aptitude for the 
r61e of political leader, and moreover their Whiggish proclivi- 
ties caused them actually to approve the constitutional changes 
that were being introduced. So it happened that the inhabitants 
of New York got their first lessons in Whig principles from 
leaders to whom those principles in themselves were quite in- 
different. How long this would have gone on had Delancey 
Hved, it is impossible to say. But his attempt to make King's 
College an Episcopal foundation roused those who had re- 
mained cold to his demagogism, while it touched the Noncon- 
formists in their tenderest point. Indeed, the last day of his 
life was perhaps the most unhappy, for then, on a social occasion, 
in the presence of his friends, his conduct had been ridiculed 
to his face by men whose good opinion was an honour, and so 
true were these gibes, and so unprecedented and humihating 
the experience, that he had no word to answer. Fortunate 
always, his sudden death the next morning stopped the unravel- 
ling of his reputation at the start, and preserved his influence 
as longer life might have failed to do. 

In the city itself Colden found many changes of a more ob- 
vious sort. Wealth and luxury had increased to an astonishing 
degree. The provincial gallants and ladies of fashion could 
now be as well turned out in Hanover Square and Broad Street 
as in London itself; it was the fault of a man's pocket or his 
taste did he not set his table with delicacies from all parts of 
the world; house furnishings and decorations of an elegance 
of which the earlier inhabitants had never dreamed were im- 
ported in quantities; and people of a literary sort were no 
longer obliged to look to England and the Continent for the 



A Colonial Executive 265 

inspiration of new books. Prices, too, had steadily mounted. 
Provisions and other necessities cost three times as much as 
they had a very few years before, while so many persons were 
travelling the road from simplicity to comparative extravagance, 
that it was going to be financially disastrous for the new chief 
to maintain a suitable estabHshment unless he could reimburse 
himself by the profits of a long term. It was true he had a 
right to the house in the Fort built for the royal governors; 
but Sir Jeffrey Amherst, the general commanding the British 
forces in America, had for some time made this his headquarters, 
and it was with great reluctance that Colden wrote that it would 
be necessary to take a certain number of rooms for himself, 
reserving the best for the general. This brought an offer 
from Colonel Delancey.^ He announced that his house was at 
the general's service, and Colden, with more impulsiveness 
than judgment, said that he would take it instead, leaving 
Amherst undisturbed. He did not do so, however, for when 
Amherst dechned Delancey's proposition, Delancey, ignoring 
Colden entirely, told Mrs. Delancey to move in at once, an 
indication that the new chief magistrate had the old scores still 
against him. Colden, on his part, lost no time in representing 
to the Earl of Hahfax, president of the Board of Trade, and to 
the Board itself^ the justice and good policy of his promotion. 
He also wrote to his old friend, Collinson, to take charge of his 
candidacy, with power to draw on his son's account, while he 
himself besought the influence of John'Pownall, secretary of 
the Board of Trade and brother of the governor of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay. He added that Mr. Charles, the assembly's 
London agent, was proving persona non grata to his clients, 
and it would be his pleasure to get the position for Pownall. 

^ This was Oliver Delancey, a brother of the late chief justice. 
2 Colden Letter Books, in Collections of the New York His. Soc. for 1876, 
I. 32-36- 



266 Cadwallader Colden 

Pownall's reply was encouraging. He considered the issue of 
a commission probable, and said that, while his present position 
quite satisfied him, his friend, Mr. Burke, would be delighted 
to supersede Mr. Charles, an ambition that Colden promised 
his best efforts to further. He admitted, however, that as 
Mr. Burke was quite unknown in the colonies, the result was 
doubtful. 

The later discovery of this offer of Colden's was to make no 
addition to his popularity; but meanwhile, for the first months 
of his administration, he was undoubtedly enjoying his position. 
Old enmities were apparently forgotten, and he met cordial 
faces and heard congratulations everywhere he went. The 
little dignities of his office were grateful after his stormy career, 
and he was pleasantly unaware that the men who had gathered 
around Delancey were merely stunned for the moment by the 
unexpected change, and that the more moderate were confident 
that they could bring him, now an old man and naturally de- 
sirous of comfort, to meet their views. In fact, they hoped for 
nothing less than his repudiation of the principles of a hfetime, 
and this to be shown by the appointment of a chief justice 
during good behaviour. Supreme Court justices in the colonies 
were appointed in various ways. In New York the chief 
justice could be appointed directly by the king, by mandamus 
to the commander-in-chief, or by the latter himself, un- 
prompted. The commander-in-chief also named the inferior 
judges, or puisnes, his instructions directing that he never 
should appoint save on the tenure of the king's pleasure. But 
however appointed, the salaries of all, both chief justice and 
puisnes, were granted annually by the legislature, and, always 
insignificant, could be made still smaller at their caprice. 
Such a system had long convinced Colden of three things : first, 
that no man of ability could give the time necessary to the office 
of chief justice for so small a compensation unless he were also 



A Colonial Executive 267 

a man of fortune ; second, that no man of fortune would under- 
take it unless he expected to gain thereby a more than legitimate 
influence ; and third, that at the same time he, Hke his colleagues, 
.was dependent on the legislature. The ring was complete, and 
no one could tell where it began. Naturally, moreover, its 
power would be increased by tenure during good behaviour, and 
that man was sanguine who hoped for Golden 's acquiescence. 
There was some reason, however, why he should make an 
immediate appointment, for there was probably sincere alarm 
lest otherwise the English government might parallel its recent 
policy in New Jersey. There the treasurer of a north of Eng- 
land turnpike had been followed on the bench by a Newgate 
solicitor, the husband of some great lady and recommended by 
the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in order, it was 
said, to get him out of the way, his wife's lover having in- 
fluence with the great lawyer. "The people in general have 
received strong prejudices thereby," Colden wrote the Earl of 
Halifax, president of the Board of Trade, in reference to this 
appointment; "but at the same time I must declare I know 
nothing of Mr. Jones, having never seen him." 

With equal diplomacy, William Smith having first refused to 
accept the office on the old basis, he left the matter with the 
board, procured the postponement of a formal address to him- 
self on the subject, and succeeded for the moment in quieting 
the disappointed candidates, among whom were Judge Cham- 
bers and Mr. Morris, of New Jersey. 

The first months of the new administration, in fact, were not 
conducive to controversy. In September came the news of the 
final surrender of Canada at Montreal. In November came 
Amherst himself to the booming of the guns of Fort George, 
when the city was brilliant with the British colours by day and 
illuminations by night, and when the mayor, aldermen, and com- 
monalty conferred the freedom of their municipaHty on the victor, 



268 Cadwallader Colden 

in the usual gold box and with an unusually patriotic address. 
Finally, before the winter set in, the news of the death of George 
II and of the accession of George III lent that pictorial interest 
to political relations that such changes inspire. Hymns and 
anthems of thanksgiving were published in the newspapers; 
the overthrow of "the insulting Gaul," the triumph of British 
mercy over British valour, and the fatherly care of the old king 
were all subjects for poetic congratulation; while one enthu- 
siast went so far as to forecast the future and through many 
verses saw "Europe tremble at the name of George." Public 
opinion was tinged with the same mild patriotism, and partly 
from this and partly from the caution of surprise, Colden's 
first assembly was comfortably uneventful. Still Colden did his 
share in the way of concession. If he got the salary he asked, 
he passed without flinching the currency and revenue bills in 
the very form he had once so vigorously condemned; was ex- 
travagant in his praise of his predecessor ; and, it was greedily 
noted, when he gave the formal promise to concur in everything 
conducive to the colony's welfare, left out the customary pro- 
viso "consistent with my duty to his Majesty."^ "Only an- 
other instance of the effect of responsibihty," people wisely 
observed. An impartial observer might have added that Col- 
den was proving himself by far the most able governor New 
York had possessed in over thirty years, and, by virtue of his 
wide knowledge of colonial conditions, the best-equipped of her 
colonial executives. 

II 

With the progress of the new reign this rosy situation began to 
fade. "At my age," Colden had written to a fellow-governor, 

1 Journal of the General Assembly of N. Y., II, 634-635. He did say, how- 
ever; "as far as is consistent with the Powers devolved on me by this Casual 
Accession to the Administration." 



A Colonial Executive 269 

unconsciously voicing the thoughts of many, "an easy is better 
than a profitable administration."* But with unimpaired 
mental vigor and physical strength at least equal to its support, 
he soon found that mere expediency appealed to him as little 
at seventy as it had at thirty. His discovery was due, in the first 
place, to the lawyers, a class of men whom many regarded with 
a feeling akin to Mr. TuUiver's. In new countries where land 
disputes are frequent, ignorance general, and the rights of the 
government ill-defined, unless complete anarchy prevails, a 
lawyer can easily make himself a power. This had been in an 
especial manner the case in New York, where the lawyers, ar- 
riving late and slowly, had, about the middle of the century, 
formed a sort of union that had greatly decreased Delancey's 
influence. He had at once propitiated and controlled them, and, 
though he had never succeeded in making his interest theirs, 
he had achieved the effect, and many of the advantages, of an 
aUiance. About the time of his death, however, there had been 
many signs of revolt, and, whether his skill would have been 
equal to their repression or not, it was certain that his successor 
must pay some court to the leaders of the fraternity or give up 
all thought of surmounting the difficuUies of his position. Yet, 
for more reasons than one. Golden would have found such 
diplomacy impossible. At the time, the acknowledged leaders 
of the profession were three young men, William Smith the 
younger, John Morin Scott, and WilHam Livingston. Liv- 
ingston and Smith had been together at Yale, and then all three 
had gone into the elder Smith's office to read law, while, in their 
leisure hours, they planned the political revolution of New York 
with an enthusiasm which was not, perhaps, altogether youth- 
fully guileless. These plans soon resulted in the formation of 
the Whig Club, which, organized in 1752, for years met once a 
week at the King's Arms Tavern. Here the members drank 

1 Golden to Thomas Pownall, Letter Books, I, 13, 14. 



270 Cadwallader C olden 

endless toasts to Oliver Cromwell and Puritan heroes of all 
types, while they Ustened to speeches which aimed to arouse a 
noble discontent with the decidedly comfortable condition en- 
joyed by most of those present. Gradually, dissatisfaction and 
patriotism became interchangeable terms, and the men who had 
brought this about, and whose own development Colden ascribed 
to the pernicious influence of the New Haven college, were con- 
sidered not only as having held up a mirror to the situation, but 
as being alone able to cope with its complications.* 

Such men were "levellers" indeed, and it was manifestly out 
of the question for Colden to meet them on any ground what- 
soever. Even had their characters and motives been unim- 
peachable, he could scarcely have done so. To him an Inde- 
pendent was only less dangerous to society than a papist, an 
opinion confirmed by history as he read it and conditions in 
New England as he had observed them. "We have, " he had 
written his son three years before, "instances in History of King- 
doms well governed, under absolute monarchy ; but it seems to 
me, that it is impossible that a people can be happy, under 
a Government formed on genuine independent principles " ; 
while in the same letter he propounded two queries : "how comes 
it that the old genuine Independents & Enthusiasts in general 
have so little regard to Veracity," and "what is the true Definition 
of a Bigot?" ^ With this opinion of Independents as a class, 
he had spent the leisure of his last country winter in preparing 
for the instruction of his children and the enlightenment of pos- 
terity a spirited commentary on Smith -fils and his lately pubUshed 
history, which, though at that time continued only up to the 
year 1732, afforded him material for much indignant criticism. 
He also challenged the author openly, to prove the truth of the 
reflections on the surveyor general contained in the account of 

^ Jones's History, p. 5. 

' Collections of the N. Y. His. Soc. for 1869, 209-210. 



A Colonial Executive 271 

an episode belonging to the year 1737, and clearly dragged into 
the appendix for some ulterior motive, belying, as it did, the not 
unflattering characterization of Golden in the history itself. 
Smith half begging the question, half disclaiming any allusion 
to Golden, after some further correspondence, the controversy 
was dropped. But neither forgot, and the time had now come 
when its memory and the memory of all it impHed prevented 
the amenities that Golden 's own interest demanded and made 
personal maHce a determining factor in Smith's choice of policy. 
The situation soon disclosed itself. Everything was still 
going smoothly when, shortly after the news of the king's death 
arrived from England, the lawyers discovered an unwritten law 
declaring the dissolution of assemblies and the vacation of cer- 
tain offices by the demise of the crown. Golden put little faith 
in the discovery and wanted to put less. But that made no 
difference. All legal processes were stopped at once, an oppres- 
sive uncertainty invested all but the most private actions ; and 
Golden himself was full of anxiety because he had learned of the 
probable necessity for more volunteers before the spring, and there 
might be no assembly to provide them. The governor of the 
Massachusetts Bay had promptly proclaimed George III of his 
own accord, but the governor of New York was not allowed any 
such freedom of action; and when an unexpectedly late ship 
brought the necessary orders and the young king's proclamation 
continuing all officers in their places, he found to his disappoint- 
ment that this was not to be the solution of his difficulty. Instead, 
the lawyers began to talk with learned vagueness of a subtle 
difference between commissions; some, it seemed, requiring 
to be continued by an act of ParHament. In any case. Golden 
felt obliged to yield the old assembly ; and in March the members 
of a new one, elected in pursuance of his writs, met as usual in 
the Gity Hall on Wall Street. The management of a New York 
assembly was never an easy matter, and now, though only seven 



272 Cadwallader C olden 

new men had been chosen, the fact that some of their prede- 
cessors had been leaders of experience while those ambitious to 
succeed them had none, made party ahgnment next to impossible. 
Golden, however, secured for Amherst two-thirds of the number 
of volunteers that had been raised the year before, with their 
provisions and pay; and eighteen other pieces of more or less 
important legislation were pushed through and approved by 
him on the last day of a comparatively short session. 

There remained two bills to which he refused to put his name. 
To one, designed to legaUze all acts of government between the 
death of George III and the arrival of the news in the colony, 
he objected, first, technically, because it did not follow the in- 
structions in several respects, and, secondly, because he thought 
it illogical. "It seems to me with submission," he wrote the 
Board of Trade,* "an absolute absurdity to say that a man can 
be restrained in his LawfuU acts by any matter or thing of which 
it is impossible for him to have any knowledge. It is establish- 
ing a kind of Law Popery ... & By setting Law & Gommon 
sense in opposition Lawyers may obtain a most extensive power 
over the Minds of the rest of mankind." By the second bill 
the judges of the Supreme Gourt were to be appointed there- 
after on the tenure of good behaviour, all other conditions re- 
maining the same. The fact that they were subject to removal 
by the commander-in-chief on an address by the assembly or 
the signed advice of seven councillors did not mean anything 
under the circumstances, and Golden reaUzed that, cost him 
what it might, he could never be so inconsistent with his past as 
to approve such a measure. So, while it was still in its 
earlier stages, taking for granted that its purpose was to 
render arbitrary removals impossible, he privately assured the 
speaker and other prominent members that he would sign a 
bill providing that no judge should be removed by a governor 

1 Golden Letter Books, I, 88-90. 



A Colonial Executive 273 

save on the request of the king, the assembly, or at least seven 
councillors. Later, he even said that he would approve this 
bill as it stood, if the salaries for the judges were fixed per- 
manently and to be paid out of a reliable fund. But when some 
members got the idea that he would sign if the salaries were made 
larger, one of his friends told the debaters that higher salaries 
would make no difference. It was steadiness of income that 
Golden wanted first, and though his council showed every indica- 
tion of advising him to sign if he would but give them the 
chance, the bill was lost. 

Up to this time, significantly enough, the judges themselves 
had agreed with Golden that is was unnecessary to renew their 
commissions, which had no concern with the king's will or 
pleasure, just because George II was dead. Naturally, they 
preferred these to renewals by Golden, of whose tenure they were 
at first doubtful and then unpleasantly certain. But the bar 
talked so solemnly of the consequences of the exercise of judi- 
cial functions by those who were no longer judges that, as the 
spring term drew near, the bench to a man grew nervous and 
begged new commissions identical with the old. " Sit upon your 
old commissions and the royal proclamation dated at Saville 
House," repHed Golden. "That may not have been under the 
great seal," they retorted according to instructions. "Yours 
are as good as mine, and you'll stand on the same foundation," 
said Golden to the great delight of his tormentors, who now de- 
clared that fear for himself had been the motive of his opposition.* 

The spring courts were nevertheless held without further in- 
cident, and at the same time a severe illness nearly put an end 
to Golden's career. But he weathered it sturdily, and, as if in 
congratulation, during his convalescence the long-desired com- 
mission as lieutenant-governor arrived. Yet now that it was at 
last his, the triumph of his success was diminished by the refusal 

1 Smith's " History of New York," II, 354. 



274 Cadwallader C olden 

of his request that his son, who had for some time shared with 
him the office of surveyor general, be made a councillor; by 
the knowledge that one of the generals concerned in the winning 
of Canada had been selected as governor of New York ; and by 
the fact that his new office brought with it no salary except when 
there was no governor-in-chief. He suggested that Collinson 
remind Lord HaUfax that it might be a bad thing for the gov- 
ernment to put young Watts on the council board. His father, 
who had married a sister of the late chief justice, had been there 
some time ; his uncle Oliver had just received his appointment 
after a long struggle, and the elevation of a third member of the 
family would do much to restore the Delancey self-confidence. 
It would be considered noteworthy that the acting governor's 
candidate had been refused in favour of one of a family long a 
stumbling-block in the way of the loyal servants of the crown. 
This and the expectation of a governor would, he feared, take 
away his influence.' 

Clearly, Colden felt a growing disaffection among the people, 
and though some of the reasons for this must have been clear 
to him there were others that he was unable to perceive. He 
did realize that his refusal to pass the bill relating to the com- 
missions of the judges, for instance, had made him enemies ; but 
he did not see how exasperating it was that he should be more 
solicitous concerning colonial dependence than the English 
government itself. CHnton had broken the thirty-ninth instruc- 
tion when he gave Delancey his commission, and if his action 
had been considered bad policy it had never been called anything 
worse. Indeed, when he later appointed John Chambers judge 
on the like tenure, his apology for doing so was promptly ac- 
knowledged as satisfactory. This justified his appointment of 
the penitent Horsmanden on good behaviour also, and when, 
in the Delancey administration, it was decided to have a fourth 
1 Colden Letter Books, I, 56. 



A Colonial Executive 275 

justice, David Jones was appointed on the same tenure as his 
fellow-judges as a matter of course. It was therefore considered 
positively impertinent, excellent as his reasons were, for Golden 
to ignore the new precedent and to insist on writing home for 
further directions, probably insinuating ideas into the minds of 
his correspondents to which otherwise they might never have 
given a thought. 

Nor was this his only offence. An expert on the land system, 
he had for forty years tried to impress his characteristic theories 
on the administration of the government lands with indifferent 
success. Yet not disheartened, he had used his new position 
to make a still greater effort to correct abuses, and had filled 
sheets with details and suggestions, in his instances caring not 
at whom he struck. Again, he had conscientiously fulfilled his 
duty of seeing strict obedience paid to the laws of trade. There 
is reason to beUeve that he himself thought Great Britain was 
making a mistake, and that to deny the English colonies the 
freest commercial intercourse with the island colonies of France 
and Spain was to her own disadvantage, forbidding, as it did, 
any great extension of her trade with her American subjects.* 
The British continental colonies had once been able to buy all 
they wanted in the markets of Great Britain, because the French 
and Spanish West Indies had wanted more of their products 
than there was sugar to pay for. But since this supply of specie 
had been stopped by the restriction of the sugar trade, the dis- 
satisfaction of law-abiding merchants and smuggUng on the part 
of the rest had been frequently cited as proofs of the harmful 
effects of the law. Golden, who went so far as to intimate this 
to the Board of Trade, determined none the less, on a principle 
still recognized as sound, to enforce the law as it stood, whatever 
he might think of it ; and his reports of the ways of the smuggler 
soon became as circumstantial as his essays on the land jobber. 

1 Golden to Secretary Pitt, Letter Books, I, 26-28. 



276 Cadwallader C olden 

Thus, before he had been a year in office, Golden had dis- 
closed his intention of doing his utmost to subvert the schemes 
of the three most influential classes of men in the community ; 
and while to his contemporaries his reforms seemed irritatingly 
gratuitous, and perhaps no American can wish they had been 
successful, his courage and energy in grasping his opportunity, 
alone and unsupported by pubhc opinion, is none the less ad- 
mirable. Not that he was the only man in the colony who was 
loyal to Old England. There were many others, as time was 
to prove, and these also saw much to be desired in the attitude 
of their fellow-citizens to the country to which, after all, their 
debt was great. But they hoped for the gradual development 
of a sense of kinship through the influence of governors of tact 
and abihty, the modification of trade restrictions, the promotion 
of education and of mutual knowledge and intercourse, and they 
bent all their efforts to further these ends. On the other hand, 
Golden, even as a young man, had been unable to see that Eng- 
land's shght hold on those about him was only natural; that it 
was impossible for a people of Httle education and with as much 
Dutch and French, as Engfish, blood in their veins to feel any 
sentimental attachment for her traditions and laws. 

This was unfortunate, as his long agitation for drastic meas- 
ures served to increase the feeUng of separation he deplored and 
to confirm his own prejudices beyond the hope of correction, 
while its effect had been equally dubious on the other side of 
the water. With a short-sighted indifference that was almost 
criminal, the EngHsh colonial boards had gone on making 
appointments with regard neither for attainments nor character, 
and when the inefficient objects of their choice appealed for the 
support they had a right to expect, had ignored them and seen 
them insulted with apparent placidity. Golden 's portents and 
the complaints of disappointed governors were considered a 
nuisance, while Delancey, "leveller" that he was, was pre- 



A Colonial Executive 277 

ferred because he was at least never tiresome. Yet there was 
never any willingness to modify the regulations made for Eng- 
land's fancied benefit, which Golden so everlastingly insisted 
should be observed and which the opposition so light-heartedly 
disregarded. Indeed, an occasional fit of responsibility would 
induce the enactment of even severer laws, but the lack of method 
in their enforcement was just as conspicuous. What wonder 
that the people of New York lost respect for such a loosely con- 
structed government and became so unaccustomed to obedience 
that they resented even a rightful curb? What wonder that 
their representatives regarded a governor's opposition as an 
annoying cause of delay in a favourite measure, and nothing 
more, when in reaUty it was they who held the purse-strings and 
could force him to comply or lose what he was there for? 

Accordingly, even the brief emergency session called in Sep- 
tember, 1 761, to provide defenders for the counties of Orange 
and Ulster, was made use of by both council and assembly to pass 
again the two rejected bills, the alterations being too slight for 
remark. And again Golden refused his signature. He quailed, 
however, at the prospect of a third encounter, and confided to 
his council that he had written home for directions. His requi- 
sition, he said, to be sure, had been "readily and fully" complied 
with,^ but there had been an indication of the feeling toward 
him personally when the assembly snappishly refused its consent 
to the erection of a theatre by a company under the governor's 
patronage. The coming session of the Supreme Gourt, which 
was to be held the last week in October, was also sure to make 
more trouble. So it was with distinct reUef that, alarmed by 
the rumour that the judges would consent to act only on condition 
of his compliance with their wishes, he heard from a Boston law- 
yer, Mr. Benjamin Prat, first, that he had been asked to be 
chief justice of New York, and later that he had accepted the 

1 To Pitt, Letter Books, I, 116. 



2^8 Cadwallader Colden 

offer. Granting him character and abiUty, this was just what 
Colden had wished, for Mr. Prat knew not a soul in the 
province. Unfortunately, his coming was delayed, and just 
before the day appointed for the opening of the court Colden 
announced in council that, unless the judges would accept new 
commissions on the tenure of the king's will, he would replace 
them at once. To the general amazement Horsmanden and 
Chambers yielded. Jones, however, who had been down on 
Long Island contesting an assembly election, and was on his way 
to town when he heard the news, promptly turned back, swear- 
ing that no power should ever induce him to consider the ac- 
ceptance of a judgeship "on so base and precarious tenure," a 
decision which one of his fellows at least envied with all his 
heart. For, no sooner were the new commissions in hand than 
it was whispered that they were worthless, as Colden's power 
to give them, derived from Governor Hardy's commission, 
must have lapsed six months after the king's death. Judge 
Chambers, quite unnerved, could only beg the attorney general 
to bring no criminal causes before the court. 

Before this, however, on the 19th of October, the Alcide, ship 
of war, had brought the new governor's commission. Robert 
Monckton, Viscount Galway's second son, had entered the army 
when a boy, had been in active service ever since in many parts 
of the world, had stood by Wolfe at Quebec, and now was major 
general and governor of the province of New York at thirty- 
five. As has been said, his appointment had preceded his 
commission by several months, and he had spent the interval in 
garrison quarters on Staten Island, often coming up to town 
in informal fashion, where he had made many friends and at- 
tracted much attention, and where his investiture with the Order 
of the Bath by Sir Jeffrey Amherst had been an occasion of 
great brilliancy and interest. There was in consequence every 
prospect of an unusually happy administration, and it was disas- 



A Colonial Executive 279 

trous that Colden's aversion to even a mild opportunism pre- 
vented his reaping from this fortunate circumstance any advan- 
tage either for himself or the government he ideaUzed. Instead, 
his relations with Monckton were exactly what one might have 
expected them to be under the circumstances. It was the cus- 
tom for the governor-elect to produce his commission in council 
and then follow it with his instructions, which were headed by 
a list of the men quaUfied to swear him into office and so referred 
to in the commission. But on the day which Monckton him- 
self had named for his inauguration, there was a failure of the 
usual sequence, and Colden promptly asked the reason. The 
reason was that no instructions had arrived, a fact that Colden 
afterward solemnly declared he had been unaware of until that 
moment, further asserting that even in his surprise he had said 
nothing to which exception could be taken. Smith, however, 
flatly contradicted this statement and told Monckton that Col- 
den had known all beforehand and had planned to prevent his 
taking the oaths. But to Smith's delight not a man joined the 
retiring president in questioning the legality of the proceedings, 
and the oaths were administered without delay. 

Now, whether he knew of the missing document before the 
council meeting or not, Colden was certainly in the right. The 
instructions were an important part of the colony's constitution, 
a governor's chief guide, and there was no reason why Monck- 
ton should not have waited for them. On the other hand, 
Colden had little natural tact and his manner may very well 
have been irritating. Even had it been otherwise, however, 
the result would probably have differed Httle. Monckton was 
young, he was socially approachable, he had no uncomfortable 
schemes for putting things to rights, and he knew so Uttle about 
colonial administration that he was not above taking the advice 
of as many as felt in a position to give it. Therefore he was 
received with enthusiasm; he was dined by the "Gentlemen 



28o Cadwallader Golden 

of the Bench," by the corporation of the city, and by the 
"Gentlemen of the Bar," to whom, with much astuteness, he 
had already given a "most elegant entertainment"; addresses 
full of self- congratulation on the advent of a governor of birth 
and position, and without a word of his predecessor, were eagerly 
tendered. Then, not having once spoken to Golden in private, 
but having publicly intimated his disapproval of his course in 
regard to the judges' commissions, he sailed away from a 
throng of well-wishers for the conquest of Martinique after 
an administration of nineteen days. 

This was hard to bear. Golden had made an excellent gov- 
ernor and his bitterest foe had accused him of no worse crime 
up to this point than his determination to execute the laws as 
he had found them. His conduct had been dignified, and it had 
been impossible to note any of the small rigidity of the days when 
he had advised Ghnton. But the ascendancy of the Delanceys 
was now fully merged in the ascendancy of the lawyers, and the 
lawyers had determined that Golden must fall. They could 
congratulate themselves on their success. Smith had been 
in the closest touch with Monckton, and so well had he used 
his opportunity that not only had Golden been ignored, but 
Monckton gladdened Smith's heart by announcing that he had 
altered a generous plan which he had formed in regard to the 
rewards of government. According to the usual instructions, 
during the absence of a governor his representative received 
half of his salary and of the perquisites and emoluments of 
his office. The second "of," however, had been merely inter- 
polated by a clerk in the employ of the Board of Trade, for 
what reason probably none living knew. But there was no 
doubt of the fact, for the clerk himself had told Governor Bur- 
net and Burnet had told Golden, who now proposed to use his 
knowledge to some advantage. It seemed that Monckton, 
without, of course, knowing anything of the original instruc- 



A Colonial Executive 281 

tion, had determined, in effect, to carry out its provisions 
and resign all but half of his salary during his absence. In- 
stead, he wrote asking Colden what he proposed doing about 
the profits of government while acting governor. Colden 
replied that he would dispose of them as the king might direct 
in Monckton's instructions. Monckton considered this answer 
unsatisfactory, and wrote to say that he would not leave until 
he had a better. Colden rephed again that instructions dif- 
fered, and that he could not presume to make any proposition 
himself ; but he did beg the governor to remember that he had 
only just met expenses when the total receipts of the governor's 
office were his. Later on the same day in the council he re- 
peated that he could say nothing about the matter until he saw 
the instructions, exasperating Monckton to such a degree that 
the meeting was dismissed in a hurry. 

Somewhat alarmed, Colden then went to Mr. Watts, a mem- 
ber of council and Oliver Delancey's brother-in-law, to ask 
his assistance as the only person whom he knew who was also 
intimate with the governor. Watts promised to do what he 
could, and together they composed an agreement by which half 
the profits of government were to be paid to Colden and half to 
the deputy-secretary in trust for Monckton. This Colden sent 
to the governor, but in place of an answer he received what 
Smith called a "tripartite indenture." By the terms of this 
document Colden while in charge of the administration was 
not to receive a penny of the profits under the penalty of 
£1000. Everything was to be paid to the deputy-secretary 
until Monckton's return, when, if instructions of the same import 
as Hardy's had meanwhile arrived, the receipts were to be 
divided between governor and lieutenant-governor. But if 
the instructions were found to be different, Monckton was to 
have all. The truth was, Smith had very smartly surmised that 
Colden would attempt to secure a more regular compensation 



282 Cadwallader Golden 

for his office and had determined to circumvent him by the 
second proviso. Colden in his reply, conveyed through Mr. 
Watts, ignored this and based his refusal on the insult to his 
character and dignity involved in the details of the agree- 
ment. 

Smith next drew a bond by which again, if Monckton's 
instructions resembled Hardy's, the income accruing to the 
governor's office was to be paid to Colden, but with the under- 
standing that he render Monckton a strict account of his re- 
ceipts. Indeed, he was to account on oath, if required, and 
blanks were left for the amount of security and penalty. Be- 
fore this was sent, even Monckton asked why it was necessary 
to require an oath. He was told that, as he himself would be 
chancellor, he could not make use of the Chancery Court, as 
could every other subject, in order to get his rights. But when 
Watts saw the agreement, he insisted that before its submission 
to Colden the words "on oath" should be eliminated. He added 
that it was so unnecessary to ask security 'that he himself 
at any time would let the lieutenant-governor have twice 
;i^20oo on his single bond. Smith, however, considered this 
another refusal from Colden, and when Deputy-Secretary 
Banyer returned the papers, he was so disgusted and enraged 
that Mr. Watts but just kept him from throwing everything into 
the fire. Instead, he found a new way of irritating his victim 
and ordered Banyer to demand a full Ust of the Ueutenant- gov- 
ernor's commissions and land grants since Delancey's death. 
Banyer said he was sure Colden would sign if the desired altera- 
tions were made, and asked if he should get the Hst anyway. 
Smith repKed: "You will obey your orders and bring back the 
draught of the bond, that I may compare it with the copy, that 
it may be executed." Whatever Banyer understood this am- 
biguous direction to mean, Colden did sign. He wanted to as 
little as ever, but common sense argued that a half was better 



A Colonial Executive 283 

than none, and he feared that Monckton had determined on his 
suspension in case of his continued refusal, a fear only too well 
justified by the facts. 

Thus Monckton went away satisfied^ and Golden could only 
relieve himself by an occasional description of Smith as he and 
others saw him, — " a crafty, maUcious smoothed-tongued hypo- 
crite"; ^ and by making that plea for the remuneration of the 
lieutenant-governor which Smith had foreseen. In writing to 
Pitt and the Board of Trade he did not forget to state that he had 
no salary at all except when the governor was away, but he only 
asked for the erasure of that interpolated oj. This would, in 
a governor's absence, divide the salary and give all perquisites 
to the acting executive, who had done the work and so was en- 
titled to the fee. He also offered for consideration the fact that 
the purchasing power of the colony currency had been decHning 
ever since the establishment of the fees to be asked for the gov- 
ernor's services. Yet the fees and other perquisites had not been 
changed. He appealed to Hardy if it would have been possible 
to live on half of his income. Yet the necessaries of Hfe cost three 
times as much as they did in his day. On these simple state- 
ments he rested his case.^ 

On the 24th of November, 1 761, the assembly had met. Once 
more Golden was to fight a legislative duel, this time, thanks to 
Monckton, against greater odds than ever before. His opening 
plea for equal, immediate, and free justice, with its characteristic 
S^ng at both bench and bar, was answered merely by generali- 
fi^s. The assembly longed to bring him to book by demanding 
his proofs ; but this tempting inquiry was abandoned, says one 
in their confidence, because it was thought undignified. They 

* On his return he apologized to Colden, returned the bond and took his word 
for his accounts. 

' Colden Letter Books, I, 137. 

^ Ibidy 128, 129, 132-141. Smith's History, II, 360-364. 



284 Cadwallader Colden 

managed to say, nevertheless, that it was not more universal 
justice but a proper regulation of the cost of all governmental 
services that was needed. Special attention was called to the 
large fees for land grants demanded and obtained since Delan- 
cey's death by the Coldens, by the father as governor and the 
son as surveyor general. But Colden refused to be drawn into 
a defence of his honesty just then, and after an evasive reply 
and a plea for a larger salary for the chief justice, the work of 
the session began. ^ Again the two bills which Colden had twice 
rejected were made ready, and while the council debated them 
as sent up from the assembly, the assembly considered the annual 
civil list. This salary bill as finally framed granted the usual 
salaries to the judges only on condition of their acceptance of 
commissions during good behaviour; and according to Smith 
it was supposed that Colden would reject it, though it 
granted him ;^2200. Yet at the same time he says that it 
was feared that Colden would pass the bill that formally 
altered the tenure of the judge's commissions, commission 
Prat, who had arrived in town, accordingly, and leave the other 
judges as they were. But why any one should have thought 
that he would pass a bill against his avowed principles and then 
reject another which alone would have secured him any advan- 
tage from the first, Smith does not explain. However that might 
be, the council, Colden says at his suggestion, called a joint con- 
ference and proposed that the bill relating to the commissions be 
amended to provide fixed salaries for the judges to be appoint-th. 
under the new tenure. The assembly refused to consent to thJG, 
and then Colden visited the council and " meanly " implored 
their assent to the salary bill.^ This assent they gave, though 
not until he had consented to the entry of his request on the 
minutes ; whereupon the assembly begged the council to drop 

1 Journal of the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., II, 669, 672-673. 

2 Smith's History, II, 368. 



A Colonial Executive 285 

the bill relating to the commissions. Their request was granted, 
while the third bill, legaUzing the acts of the legislature between 
the death of George II and its announcement in America, was 
also lost and never heard of again. 

The consideration of one important bill remained, — a bill 
authorizing the partition of land grants and in its provisions 
somewhat similar to the one Golden had successfully opposed 
forty years before. Golden had always fought for accuracy 
in the land ofhce, and, if strict accuracy had been insisted on, 
the large grants whose partition was desired would have been 
quashed on the score of many irregularities in their purchase. 
Golden realized, however, that while many of these had been 
purchased and extended by intentional fraud, others equally 
illegal in form had been bought in good faith by their present 
owners. Hence, as it was clearly impossible to maintain mathe- 
matical exactness in the system with any degree of equity, he 
told Smith ^Ire that he would sign the bill provided certain 
amendments were made. Smith agreed to this condition, and 
what was practically a new bill was prepared embodying Gol- 
den's suggestions. In this way he secured the survey of the 
tracts by the government surveyor, and though the result was 
not made binding on any one, it would at least give the adminis- 
tration certain definite information for future use. Still, ever 
cautious. Golden sent the bill to the ministry as soon as it was 
signed, commenting on it fully, and pointing out that he thus 
gave plenty of time for the arrival of its disallowance before it 
went into effect.^ 

With this the session closed and Golden betook himself to the 
congenial task of impressing the new Secretary of State, Lord 
Egremont, and his other official correspondents, with the danger 
of allowing the assembly to force a governor to appoint a chief 
justice as they wished. With Prat unsalaried and forced to 

1 Colden to the Board of Trade, Letter Books, I, 155-158. 



286 Cadwallader Colden 

return to Boston ; with the other judges refusing to act ; with 
Monckton rebuking him in pubhc for his firmness; with the 
new governor of the Jerseys complying as he had refused to 
comply, it was possible, he hinted, that even he might yield. 
As the only remedy for the situation he begged a salary for Prat 
out of the quit-rents. But as he was writing there came another 
instruction to be added to those lately arrived for Monckton, 
and forbidding him on pain of removal to appoint a judge save 
on the tenure of the king's will. The Board of Trade, moved 
by Colden 's letters, had made a representation to the king with 
this result. Unfortunately, this real triumph was marred by 
other things which they had said about the rapacity of the land 
office, in the elaborate refutation of which Colden was straight- 
way absorbed. 
y It was this moment that fate pitched on as proper to finish 
Colden 's negotiations with Pownall, the candidacy of whose 
friend, Mr. Burke, for the London agency of the New York 
assembly, he had so gUbly promised to manage. At first con- 
fident of success, when his own commission arrived, in writing 
to thank Pownall for his share in that favour, he said that Mr. 
Burke's chances were less fair than they had been, as there was 
a disposition to retain Mr. Charles through pity for his lack of 
other resources. Pownall, nothing if not direct, at once com- 
municated his correspondence with Colden to Charles himself. 
He was, he assured him, innocent of any intention to injure him, 
as well as convinced of his perfect fitness for the position he 
occupied. Mr. Charles, with equal promptness, despatched 
his information to the assembly's Committee of Correspondence.^ 
Here it gave real satisfaction. The lieutenant-governor's com- 
mission, conveying, as it apparently did, the ministry's approval 
of Colden, had rankled. To be able to trace it to his own 

^ Smith's History, II, 370-371 and 389-390; Letter Books, I, 38, 82, 84, 
107. 



A Colonial Executive 287 

machinations was a joy. Golden, it was now remembered, had 
proposed that the assembly join him in appointing a new agent; 
but he had said nothing of a candidate, and his proposition had 
been laughed at and treated with the contempt it merited. No 
governor could recommend or nominate an agent for them. 
It seems, indeed, that, as they said. Golden must have known 
this; but their satisfaction in ascribing his commission to his 
"low craft and condescension" was ill-timed. For many years 
he had approached the object of his desire by the most unim- 
peachable methods without success, and if observation and ex- 
perience had at length convinced him that these were useless, 
the event certainly proved him to be right. If his offer to get a 
small place for the friend of a subordinate English official had 
procured him, in less than a twelvemonth, that to which he had 
so long proved himself entitled in equity, at least part of the 
blame for his offence must rest on others. But no one wanted 
to make his excuses, and his unpopularity became greater than 
ever, so great that Ghief Justice Prat, whose learning and up- 
rightness no one seems to have disputed, was subjected to a petty 
persecution solely because he was his friend. 

Prat had been the only judge who had acted in the January 
term ; yet, when the assembly met in March, it showed no dis- 
position to give him a salary and, being a comparatively poor 
man, he felt that he was no longer justified in giving up an ex- 
cellent practice without compensation. He proposed, first, 
however, to give the assembly fair warning, and though he 
delayed in deference to Golden, who was filled with dismay at 
the mere suggestion of his departure, he finally sent the following 
letter to the speaker : — 

"New York March 15/1762. 

"Sir, 
"I presume it is well known to you and every member of the 
Assembly that all the Justices of the Supreme Court except 



288 Cadwallader Golden 

myself have either resigned their Commissions or refused to 
officiate. 

"That in reality there are no Salaries granted to the Judges of 
that Court, consequently that the people of this Colony can 
have no reasonable Expectation that any Gentleman not insti- 
gated by sinister motives and qualified for such trust will accept 
any Commission for that Purpose. 

"Neither you Sir nor any one acquainted with the nature and 
value of the Essential Rights and security of the People can be 
insensible of the great mischiefs and dangerous consequences 
of being without a Supreme Court of Justice. 

" To obviate these evils I have alone sacrificed my time and 
interest to preserve the existence of that Court. 

"But it now becomes indispensably necessary for me to go to 
Boston and be absent from this Colony, until the Situation of 
my Affairs can permit me to return which cannot possibly be in 
a short time. As the Assembly are now sitting I think it my 
Duty to give notice of this, that you may see how necessary it is 
that some provision be made for some other Judge or Judges of 
that Court. 

"Be so good as to communicate this to such members & in 
such manner as you shall think proper. 

"I have nothing further to add but only that whatever here- 
after may be the Event, I shall have the satisfaction of having 
done my Duty and I hope that you will do me the Honour and 
Justice to admit that no ill consequences that may perhaps 
happen in this Respect, can be imputable to 

"Your Humble Servant 

"B. Prat"* 
To this the Speaker replied: — 

"Sir 

"Your letter of the 15th Instant I received yesterday. It is 

* Letter Books, I, 174-175. 



A Colonial Executive 289 

well known to the members of the General Assembly that all 
the Justices of the Supreme Court except yourself have resigned 
or are about to resign their Commissions & the Cause of such 
Resignation is as well known but from whence that Cause has 
proceeded is not so well known and here not proper for me to 
inquire into. 

" I can't but think there are handsome enough Sallaries granted 
to the Judges of the Supreme Court and granted in such a man- 
ner that the Colony can have a right to expect that Gentlemen 
not instigated by sinister motives and qualified for such a Trust 
may accept Commissions for that purpose. The Members of 
the General Assembly seem very sensible of the value of the 
essential Rights and Security of the People, the concern for 
which has occasioned their granting the Judges Sallaries in the 
manner they have, and of the great mischief and dangerous 
consequences of being without a Supreme Court of Justice, but 
as it is not in their power to appoint Judges they think them- 
selves not justly chargeable for any mischievous consequences 
for want thereof. 

" I have communicated your Letter to several Gentlemen of the 
General Assembly who seem to be of opinion to make provision 
for the Judges Salaries in no other manner than they have ex- 
cept better Reasons be offered than they have yet had. 

"As I have never had any impeachment of your honour or 
Justice or any imputation to you of 111 consequence attending 
such an event as you mention I shall leave you in the entire 
satisfaction of having done your Duty which upon Reflection I 
believe will be very great to you. I am with Sincerity Sir 

"Your humble Servant 

"W. Nicoix. 

" New York 16 / March 1762." ^ 

* Letter Books, I, 175-176. 



290 Cadwallader Colden 

m 

The session giving rise to this exchange of courtesies had 
been summoned by Colden for March 3, 1762, in response to a 
requisition of Amherst's. Amherst had asked that the colony 
provide for the levying, clothing, and paying as many volun- 
teers as it had raised the year before, he himself offering an addi- 
tional bounty of £$ to each man enHsting and 205. to the 
officer recruiting him. He asked also a provision for re- 
cruiting the regulars, and Colden announced that he had been 
assured that Parliament would be strongly urged to make com- 
pensation for this unexpected outlay. At the preUminary 
negotiations for peace held at Versailles the previous autumn, 
France had been distinctly unpleasant to deal with and it was 
thought wise to try the effect of at least a demonstration of force 
in bringing her to terms. It was for this Amherst wished to use 
the regulars who had been serving as a kind of frontier guard, 
and the volunteers were necessary to fill their places. Colden 
knew, however, that it was going to be difficult to get the as- 
sembly to comply; and even his spirit must have been broken 
by the long strain of the winter, for, in addition to his public 
troubles, his devoted wife had died in January, while the ill- 
nesses of two daughters, one of which had terminated fatally, 
had deprived him completely of his greatest relaxation and 
solace, — the pleasures of family Ufe. Yet Amherst's demands 
were not considered excessive, and their refusal would only 
spring from reluctance to do anything that might bring Colden 
credit, and the fear of a standing army inherent in the American 
colonist. At the same time every man of them wished that the 
conquests of the war in America should be kept, and no one 
wanted to be responsible for annoying the ministry on the eve 
of the final treaty. Still, after expressing astonishment and 
disappointment at the necessity of fresh effort when they thought 



A Colonial Executive 291 

they had reached the heights of success, the question was de- 
bated long and furiously. The result was a compromise. The 
same number of volunteers was called for, but their bounty 
being reduced a third, the odds were against their number 
being completed, while even this concession was largely due to 
the influence of Robert Livingston. Livingston told them 
that, if they advanced the amount desired as a loan and Parlia- 
ment failed to pay, at least it could never ask more; whereas, 
if the government kept its obhgations, no dangerous precedent 
would be established.^ This argument seems to have been 
astonishingly convincing and the loan was made. Moreover, 
though the assembly stated that, with their traditions and prin- 
ciples, it was impossible directly to vote the means for recruiting 
the regulars, they were moved by the circumstances to give the 
commander-in-chief of the army a sum of not more than ;;^4790 
for the use of the service, this also to be repaid by Parliament 
when it suited the king. 

But the members had scarcely reached their homes, after the 
breaking-up of the session, when Golden was obUged to recall 
them. The volunteers, he told them, owing to the reduced 
bounty, were coming in slowly, and New York, usually ahead, 
was now lagging far behind the other provinces.^ The assembly 
differed with him. The bounty even now was more than that 
offered by any other colony, and the ranks were filling up well 
with nearly a month more in which to enlist. They also re- 
fused his request for a law impressing the vagrants with which 
the country was overrun, because such a law would keep them 
out of the province, and they would never enUst. This was, at 
all events, remarkable reasoning, but the assembly were as firm 
as if they were logical.^ Golden, equally firm, gave them twelve 

^ Smith's History, II, 372. 

^ Journal of the General Assembly of N. Y., II, 700-701. 



292 Cadwallader Colden 

days in which to think the matter over. They met again on the 
19th of May, and at once sent a private message to the Ueu- 
tenant-governor stating that the difficuhy in completing the 
volunteers, a fact they had but just denied, sprang from the 
general conviction that they were to be sent to the West Indies 
with the regulars. If the assembly was assured that such was 
not the case, it would at once increase the bounty. Colden 
promised to communicate this to Amherst ; Amherst, through 
Colden, assured the assembly that the volunteers would be 
used on the continent only and would be returned to their 
province as soon as their service was over; the bounty was 
increased and the quota of volunteers completed. 

But there was no need for the fear existing in some quarters 
lest the assembly might be thought to have yielded to Colden's 
importunities for Colden's sake. Had the position of the poUti- 
cal leaders not been sufficiently indicated already, the first issue 
of a new pubhcation, The American Chronicle,'^ would have 
defined it effectively. This jeuilleton, which could boast the 
most influential sponsors, left the press the day before the as- 
sembly met in March. A biting arraignment of the whole sys- 
tem of colonial government, it could not have been more sweep- 
ingly critical had Colden been a Cornbury or a Cosby instead of 
a hard-working servant of the crown, and, according to his 
lights, of the people. All during that winter and spring, though 
he never halted in his hunt for illicit traders, though he never 
winked at any refusal to obey an impress warrant, though, 
after the declaration of war with Spain, he took care that no 
New York merchant should feed or clothe or arm the Spaniards, 
in his execution of the law he ever chose the broadest interpre- 
tation possible and was quick to see where its pressure could be 
lightened. 

Questions such as these kept him busy enough, but as a back- 

^ Colden to the Board of Trade, Letter Books, I, 186-192. 



A Colonial Executive 293 

ground to these and all other subjects, filling in interstices, con- 
necting persons of different classes and matters of alien import, 
absorbing the population as it was perhaps absorbed in no 
other colony, was the interest in land. With the practical end 
of the war and the exit of the Frenchman and his painted alUes, 
had come the proclamation of Amherst, throwing open the 
vacant lands on the northeastern frontier. There followed a 
rush for patents unprecedented in the experience of the land 
office. Preference was to be given to the officers who had served 
in the war, but with the king granting patents, and ordering 
that others be granted, to Englishmen who had never seen 
America; with New Hampshire encroaching daily; and with 
some of the great patentees enlarging their bounds insidiously 
but continually, it was most difficuh to keep systematic prefer- 
ence in view. That there should be some who asserted that 
Colden even thus early in his administration had looked well 
to his own profits in the matter, was perhaps inevitable, and it has 
been seen how their accusations were taken up by the Board of 
Trade. But, whether they were right or not, — a question that 
must wait for discussion, — Colden's determination to use his 
opportunity to systematize the records, to safeguard the Ind- 
ians, and to compensate the crown must ever redound to his 
credit. 

The return of General Monckton from his successful Mar- 
tinique campaign brought these varied activities to an end, and 
gave Colden what would have been to most men a welcome 
respite from a petty struggle. Yet, so full of ambition was he 
still, that he turned with but halting step from the confining 
labours and the doubtful honour of his official position to the 
real dignity of his private Hfe. Two things at least he had 
accomplished : Chief Justice Prat had a salary from the quit- 
rents, given, however, in a sort of secretive fashion ; and before 
the April term Horsmanden and Jones had consented to be 



294 Cadwallader Colden 

second and third judges of the Supreme Court respectively, 
on the old tenure. But there remained so much to be done 
that he hated to withdraw his hand and step aside. 

As it happened, his retirement was to be short. In less than 
a year Monckton was on his way to England to recuperate his 
health, and Colden was once more left in his place. He found 
the situation slightly changed. Prat was dead and Hors- 
manden was chief justice; David Jones, WilUam Smith pere^ 
and Robert Livingston were the puisnes ; and all had been given 
commissions according to Governor Monckton's special in- 
structions. The question of an independent judiciary was thus 
to an extent eliminated from politics, and, although the effects of 
Pontiac's rebelHon made it necessary to apply to the assembly 
for assistance, during the next year and a half Colden's time 
and interest could be devoted almost exclusively to the still- 
growing land problem, and the even more vital question of the 
maintenance of the British trade laws. Conservative of the 
conservatives as he was, he saw clearly whither England's ex- 
clusive policy was tending, and ventured to suggest once more 
that she was doing no one any good, but possibly doing herself 
an injury by her repressive methods.^ When Colden criticised 
ministerial judgment never so faintly, it was time to give pause. 
But he might as well have spoken to the wind. His plea for a 
return to the old tradition when the provincial attorney general 
had been a man of weight, a lawyer whose large private practice 
showed general respect for his skill, was also left unheeded, 
and England's legal representative in New York continued to 
be a man to whom no one else deigned to intrust his affairs.^ 
On the other hand, the ministry had listened to complaints of 
the fee system, complaints nearly as old as the province itself, 
and had seized this inopportune time to direct an investigation 

* Colden to the Board of Trade, Letter Books, I, 312. 

' Colden to the Earl of Egremont, Secretary of State, Letter Books, I, 230. 



A Colonial Executive 295 

of the subject in a way that might easily have been interpreted 
as a reflection on the provincial officers.* 

Indeed, the haphazard character of English colonial govern- 
ment never had been more clearly illustrated. Deaf to the most 
appealing petitions for intelligent support, credulous of criticism 
of its most loyal servants, fussily exacting where it should have 
been liberal, and apathetic where it should have been most 
interested, the wonder is how Colden's patience had endured 
so long. In all points connected with land it was the same. 
Prayers for interference in glaring abuses would be ignored, 
and the merest tittle-tattle would result in the rebuke of a faith- 
ful official. This was especially disastrous in New York, where, 
as Golden had realized from the first, the influence of the great 
landowners was a supremely important social and political 
factor. Yet, though it was notorious that the lords of a manor 
returning a member to the legislature had engaged in land 
grabbing on a most outrageous scale, and had almost brought 
on civil war with a neighbouring province, it is doubtful if a 
royal rebuke had ever reached them. But Golden persisted, 
and was now using every argument to secure instructions to 
break the gigantic patent of Kayaderroseres in western New 
York, while trying finally to settle the eastern bounds of the 
province, where New Hampshire claimed all the land that had 
been selected as especially suitable for the "reduced" officers. 

Still, on the whole, those eighteen months were comparatively 
peaceful. Gonstant criticism there was, but it had all been 
uttered before and had become almost a matter of routine. 
Moreover, though the colonial legislators came together in 
September, 1764, with certain real grievances weighing on their 
minds, for once, apparently, no one thought Golden even indi- 
rectly to blame. It was now many years since the law known 
as the Sugar, or Molasses Act, had aimed at prohibiting trade 

^ Letter Books, I, 343, 348. 



296 Cadwallader Colden 

with the foreign West Indies; yet it had never seemed so op- 
pressive. There were reasons enough for this. Many govern- 
ors had executed the law so loosely that it had almost been for- 
gotten; Colden, whether he liked it or not, attempted at least 
absolutely to enforce it. Before the conquest of Canada the 
fear of the French had kept settlers away, had absorbed the 
energies of many inhabitants in schemes of clandestine trade, 
and, in general, had restricted commercial enterprise. On the 
other hand, the wars had brought with them compensating 
gains for the American merchant. The king's money had come 
into the country in comparatively large quantities, privateering 
had been highly successful, and the contractors employed by 
the assembly had grown rich. But now the rapid growth of 
the country and its expanding energy were being blocked 
by an increasing pressure which had its source at Westminster. 
For, not content with those already existing, Parhament had 
lately been creating new restrictions on colonial trade. A law 
preventing the exportation of lumber to Ireland promised a 
time when Hnen, that luxury of even frugal housewives, would be 
a rare possession, while another practically prohibiting the 
issue of paper money in the colonies, notwithstanding the good 
service it had done England in the past, had brought with it 
serious consternation.* But far more disturbing had been the 
reports of the London agents telUng of the ministry's plan to 
tax the colonists themselves, on their legal transactions, their 
journals, their purchases, by means of stamps. That the pro- 
ceeds of the tax were to be devoted to extinguishing the debt 
incurred in the prosecution of the last war in America made 
this promised overthrow of custom, of tradition, of the prin- 
ciple they had been taught to consider one of the foundations of 

^ In 1759 the colonies had by means of paper money raised ^^150,000 for 
the use of the General of the army. Journal of the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., 
II, 798. 



A Colonial Executive 297 

the British Constitution, no whit less insupportable to those 
who read and heard. At first, at least, they did not question the 
right of Parliament to do as it proposed, but they resolved 
almost sadly to do what they could to convince their EngUsh 
brothers that its exercise was inexpedient in every respect. 

To men in this temper Colden made a pleasant speech an- 
nouncing the complete success of Sir William Johnson with the 
rebel Indians, which had culminated in a great peace meeting 
at Niagara ; praising the generosity which had contributed so 
largely to this event, and voicing the approval of the king. 
Now at last the colony was free to pursue the arts of peace, and 
as a practical measure he suggested a renewal of the bounty on 
hemp. The assembly expressed hearty pleasure at his news. 
"But nothing can add," they proceeded, "to the Pleasure we 
received from the Information your Excellency gives us. That 
his Majesty, our most gracious Sovereign, distinguishes and 
approves our Conduct. When his Service requires it, we shall 
ever be ready to exert ourselves, with Loyahy, Fidehty, and 
Zeal, and as we have always compUed in the most dutiful man- 
ner with every Requisition made by his Directions ; We with all 
HumiHty hope, that his Majesty, who, and whose Ancestors 
have long been the Guardians of British Liberty, will so protect 
us in our Rights, as to prevent our falUng into the abject State 
of being forever hereafter incapable of doing what can merit 
either his Distinction or Approbation. Such must be the de- 
plorable State of that Wretched people, who (being taxed by a 
Power subordinate to none and in a great Measure unacquainted 
with their circumstances) can call Nothing their own. This we 
speak with the greatest Deference to the Wisdom and Justice 
of the British ParUament, in which we confide. 

" Depressed with this Prospect of inevitable Ruin, by the alarm- 
ing Information from Home, neither we nor our Constituents can 
attend to Improvements conducive either to the Interests of our 



298 Cadwallader Colden 

Mother Country or of this Colony. We shall, however, renew 
the Act for granting a bounty on Hemp, still hoping that a Stop 
may be put to those Measures which if carried into Execution, 
will obHge us to think, that nothing but extreme Poverty can 
preserve us from the most insupportable Bondage. 

"We hope, your Honour will join with us, in an Effort to secure 
that great Badge of EngUsh Liberty, of being taxed only with 
our Consent ; to which, we conceive, all His Majesty's Subjects 
at home and abroad equally entitled, and also in pointing out 
to the Ministry, the many mischiefs arising from the Act, com- 
monly called the Sugar Act, both to us and Great Britain." ^ 

Here was the opportunity of Colden 's life. He need only 
have said that he thought the assembly were justified in their 
protest and he would have attained the admiration of Americans 
everywhere. Nor was there any reason why he should not have 
said so. In the main he agreed with every word that had been 
uttered, agreed, and understood, understood as no governor 
over from England for a few months or years ever could have 
understood, and the tone of the whole address was above re- 
proach. Its point of view should have appealed to him, at least 
to some extent, for he had the capacity to appreciate it. But 
his loyalty was too bigoted, or his memory too keen. He would 
send their address, he repHed with stiff propriety, to those better 
quahfied to judge of its contents, but England had done so much 
for them, they should wish to do everything possible in return. 
Still, he added, though he considered their method of seeking 
their end irregular, he would do nothing to hinder them, and even 
wished that the proceedings might tend to the benefit of the 
province. It must be remembered also in Colden 's favour that 
he knew the authors of the address as we do not. He knew 
their politics, their unscrupulousness, their petty tyranny. He 
knew, for instance, that they were still determined to alter the 
^ Journal, etc., II, 749. 



A Colonial Executive 299 

tenure of the judges' commissions; that they pretended to be 
actuated by fear of arbitrary removals by ambitious governors ; 
and that in their petition for the desired change they had de- 
clared that the vast powers of the New York judges filled the 
inhabitants with fear. But he remembered that they had 
ignored his offer to make arbitrary removals impossible, and 
he could not but know that the judges would be still more ter- 
rible when responsible to no one and dependent on the legis- 
lature for their salaries. Yet the language of their petition 
might have led the ignorant to suppose that they were seeking 
their countrymen's good with a single mind. How did he know 
that they were more trustworthy now? Indeed, he could not 
know, and it was perhaps for that reason he had refused to sign 
the three petitions that soon were sent across the sea to king, 
Lords, Commons, respectively.* 

In these fine appeals the representatives of the province 
stated their grievances and asked for redress. But not for them- 
selves only did they plead ; it was for Great Britain herself that 
they asked the most careful consideration, for that great empire, 
more vast and powerful than any yet known to fame, into which 
she might expand through the unrestricted development of her 
colonies. Pity it is that the splendour of the vision failed to stir 
that young king, with his vaulting ambitions, his dislike of 
ministers, his wish to rule by himself alone. Here was a people 
with whom personal loyalty was a sentiment just beginning to 
have strength, who were wilhng and probably able to govern 
themselves, who were prouder daily of the name of EngUshman, 
and who promised eagerly to spread the advantages and share 

' There is no doubt, however, that Colden failed to appreciate the spirit of 
the address itself. " The Assembly of this Province in an address to me," he 
wrote Edward Sedgwick on September 21st, " have expressed their Sentiments, 
in respect to being Taxed by a British Parliament, in a manner, which I think 
disrespectful and even indiscreet." 



300 Cadwallader Colden 

the burdens of their inheritance. Why did he not reduce the 
unwieldy colonial system of his day to the simplest terms, and, 
allowing the colonists the fullest measure of self-government in 
their internal affairs, with all the commercial privileges of Eng- 
lishmen, develop a sort of personal union, each member sharing 
the benefits of peace and war alike ? 

IV 

In truth King George III considered the point of view 
of his American subjects not at all ; but before their petition 
had reached him Colden was deep in a controversy ^ in which he 
needed all the influence and prestige acquiescence in the assem- 
bly's purposes would have brought him. His enemies, however, 
were so resourceful and so determined that he should have 
neither influence nor prestige, that it is probable they would 
have found some way to turn his action to his discredit. The 
present controversy sprang from a suit for assault brought in 
the October term of the Supreme Court by one Thomas Forshey 
against one Waddell Cunningham. The jury found for the 
plaintiff, and when the defendant, on the last day of the term, 
asked his lawyers to apply for the right to appeal to the governor 
in council, as he considered ;;^i5oo damages excessive, they 
refused point blank. This was suspicious, for they had them- 
selves decided to appeal if the case went against them. Cun- 
ningham, nevertheless, was obliged to get a notary public to 
make the motion. The court took until the next morning to 
decide, and then Cunningham's counsel condescended to advise 
a new motion to set aside the verdict. This was refused; a 
petition in writing from Cunningham's partner and attorney, 
asking Uberty to appeal and offering a bond with security to 

* Colden Letter Books, I, 395-398,406-419, 421-425,441-442; Journal of 
the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., II, 786 and 795-806. 



A Colonial Executive 301 

abide by the decision, met a similar fate ; and, finally, permission 
was denied to put this last refusal on the minutes. Cunning- 
ham's partner, Mr. Robert Ross Waddell, next appealed to 
Golden for an order to the judges of the Supreme Court to bring 
the case before him in council. Colden sent for the attorney 
general, showed him a copy of the 32d instruction directing the 
governor to permit appeals to him in council, and asked him to 
make out the proper writ. Kemp said the only writ he knew 
anything about was a writ of error. Now a writ of error in- 
volved the verdict only, and, as then understood, had nothing 
to do with the merits of the case. It was designed to call in 
question a flaw in the legal handUng of the decision of the jury, 
in the sentence, as it were, but it considered not at all the 
means by which that decision had been reached. An appeal, 
on the other hand, took cognizance of everything between the 
crime and the fixing of its penalty, points of fact and points of 
law ahke. This it was that Cunningham wanted, for though, 
strictly speaking, he had found fault with the amount of his 
damages, this had been based on a verdict which he considered 
unjustified by the facts. He accordingly refused any substitute, 
and Colden promised to call a council the next day in order to 
put the matter before them. 

The council met. Colden presented his facts with no con- 
tradiction from Judges Horsmanden and Smith, who had been 
on the bench at the trial, and then read the 32d instruction. 
The council asked for copies, but plainly were opposed to taking 
any action in the matter. Nevertheless, Colden told them that 
he thought it his duty to issue the writ, adding that of course 
they would have an opportunity to refuse their approval later. 
But when the writ was appUed for, it was found impossible to 
get a lawyer to advise its composition. In fact, the whole 
fraternity was getting in fine to oppose the appeal, and when 
Colden at length signed a document composed with as much 



302 Cadwallader Colden 

technicality as possible under the circumstances, he knew he 
was challenging the wealth and power of the province, with no 
reason whatever to expect help from abroad. Such disregard 
of consequences in the cause of duty was sheer gallantry in a 
man of nearly eighty. Yet he never thought of holding back 
once he had defined the situation to himself; and the greater 
the odds against him, the more reason he saw to fight. If both 
lawyers and landowners had decided that the decision of one 
provincial court must be final, it was, he thought, an unneces- 
sary proof that their schemes would not bear pubUcity, and that 
the honest poor or the king himself could have little hope for 
fair play should their interests clash with those of these power- 
ful classes. 

The writ, with another ordering a stay in the execution of the 
Supreme Court verdict, was made returnable on Wednesday, 
November 14th, and on that day Chief Justice Horsmanden 
produced them in council and announced that he could have 
nothing further to do with them. Fourteen days had been 
insufficient for the transcription of his reasons, and he begged to 
be allowed to present them at a later date. His request being 
granted, after frequent consultation with the leading lawyers 
in town, on the 19th of December he addressed the council 
with an imposing array of heads and subdivisions. In the 
first place, he said, England permitted appeals from the 
decisions of judges only, and not from the verdicts of juries. 
Hence, as, with certain well-defined exceptions, England's law 
was the law of her colonies, there should be no departure there- 
from without a very good reason. That reason the 32d instruc- 
tion did not give. It used, to be sure, the word " appeal " ; but 
appeals in common parlance had come to mean writs of error, 
and before 1753 the instructions had read "appeal in cases of 
error." Even this instruction directed the governor to issue 
v/rits in the usual manner, and as only writs of error had been 



A Colonial Executive 303 

issued, this would indicate that they were surely meant. Finally, 
the judges of the Supreme Court, who were also members of 
council, were to have no vote in cases of appeal, plainly indicat- 
ing that their own decisions were in question. For all these 
reasons, in Horsmanden's judgment, no court of appeals existed, 
and there were a dozen reasons why none should. The vast 
expense of recording cases, the delay in deciding them, the 
elimination of the invaluable criterion of neighbourhood know- 
ledge in estimating the veracity of witnesses, the demand on the 
time of governor and council, and even of king and council 
— for the instruction permitted the submission of cases to the 
third court if the verdict of the second was also unsatis- 
factory ; all these consequences of a court of appeals seemed to 
him insuperable objections to its estabUshment, and in deference 
to his oath he must refuse to obey the writs. 

A month later, in a letter to the Earl of HaHfax, Golden showed 
himself able to meet Horsmanden at every point; but for the 
present he contented himself with giving a few brief reasons 
why he thought the instruction referred to a court of appeals. 
He next proposed the following question to be answered by the 
lawyers, who, with several army officers and many townsmen, 
had come to listen to the debate : " Has the King by the 32d 
instruction given an appeal in all civil causes from the courts 
of common law to the governor in council and made the governor 
and council a court for determining such appeals?" Having 
had this reduced to writing, he read it the second time and then 
laid it on the table, where it was read again by all the members 
present. But when Smith fils had said he would not answer 
it, and Mr. Scott that he would if he thought proper but not if 
forced, and there had been much whispering between lawyers 
and members, the latter refused to second Colden's proposition 
and put the question. Throwing parliamentary usage to the 
winds, Golden moved that this refusal and his question should 



304 Cadwallader Colden 

be entered on the minutes. At this Mr. Scott laid his hand on 
Oliver Delancey's shoulder and drew him aside. More whis- 
pering followed, and when they had returned to their seats and 
Colden had scored the impropriety of members entering into 
private conversation with those who were not members while 
a debate was in progress, Delancey remarked that Mr. Scott 
had informed him that it was highly irregular to enter a question 
that had not been put on the minutes. There was a chorus 
of assent from the members, and then Colden Uterally took the 
question from the table and put it in his pocket with the oracular 
statement, "Then I know what is proper for me to do." This 
brought Smith fils to his feet to say that, if the court would per- 
mit him to state a question, he would answer it himself. The 
court being willing, he sat down at the table and wrote some- 
thing which, after correction by Scott, proved to be the follow- 
ing : " Can a Court be legally constituted by the Crovm in this 
colony to hear civil causes in the way of appeal from a common 
law court according to civil laws upon the whole merits, re- 
examining evidence in controlUng the verdict?" This question 
it was promptly voted to put to Messrs. Livingston, Smith, 
Jr., Hicks, Scott, and Duane, all of whom except Mr. Hicks, 
who was out of town, answered in the negative. Finally, in 
order that there should be no doubt about any one's position, 
Colden asked the attorney general whether the 32d instruction 
had constituted a court of appeals. He declined to answer the 
question as put by Smith, but, when allowed to put his own 
query, said the instruction did not constitute such a court, but 
rather a court of errors. 

Still, the subject was far from closed. On the 12th of De- 
cember Judges Smith and Livingston presented their reasons 
for refusing to consider the appeal, and on the 2d of January 
Colden, who had meanwhile been scanning every legal volume 
within reach for illuminating instances, gave the board the 



A Colonial Executive 305 

result of his investigations. Early in December he had sent 
Halifax an excellent reply to Horsmanden's objection. It 
seemed impossible, he said, that there should be no remedy against 
a possibly mistaken verdict save the will of the judge, who might 
or might not grant a new trial, while, on the other hand, a judg- 
ment on an unassailable verdict could be set aside because of 
some technical flaw. Horsmanden's argument from English 
precedent he disposed of in short order. If it was impossible 
for the king to do in America what he could not do in England, 
what would become of the colonial governments, all differing 
from each other and from England in legislative and adminis- 
trative forms developed from royal charters. The Supreme 
Court of their own province, for instance, had all the powers of 
the three English courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and 
Exchequer, and it might well be doubted if the king could estab- 
lish such a composite court in England. Yet the common law 
was the source of justice in both England and her colonies, and 
the whole controversy sprang from a confusion between the 
law itself and the manner of executing it. Again, the expression, 
"in the Manner which has been usually accustomed," did not 
necessarily apply to appeals from that place; the expense of 
lawsuits might be diminished rather than increased by a check 
on the present abuses ; and it was manifestly absurd to say that 
the council must sit every day to hear appeals, when the Supreme 
Court itself barely sat three weeks in a year, and there was no 
reason to suppose that the number of cases appealed would be 
large. Since Colden had written thus, the other judges, Living- 
ston and Smith in semi-pubUc speeches and Jones by letter, had 
lined up with Horsmanden ; yet his researches convinced him 
he had taken the only tenable position. 

The 32d instruction read : " Our will and pleasure is that you, 
or the Commander in Chief of our said Province for the Time 
being, do in all civil causes, on Application being made to you, 



3o6 Cadwallader Colden 

allow appeals from any of the Courts of Common Law . . . 
unto you . . . and the Council . . .: and you are for that 
purpose to issue a writ, in the Manner which has been usually 
accustomed, returnable before yourself and Council . . ., who 
are to hear and determine such Appeal; wherein such of our 
said Council as shall be at that time Judges of the Court . . . 
whence . . . Appeal [Hes] . . . shall not vote upon said Ap- 
peal; but they may be present at the Hearing thereof to give 
reasons given by them. . . . Provided . . . the . . . value 
appealed for . . . exceed three hundred pounds sterling; and 
that Security be first . . . given by the Appelant to answer 
such Charges as shall be awarded, in case the first Sentence be 
affirmed; and if either party shall not rest satisfied . . . our 
will and pleasure is that they may then appeal unto us in our 
Privy Council, provided the value exceed five hundred pounds 
sterling, . . . and good security given by the Appelant. . . . 
Provided . . . where matter . . . relates to taking or de- 
manding any duty payable to us, or to any Fee of Office, or 
annual rent, . . . you are to admit an appeal to us in our 
Privy Council, though immediate value [be] . . . less. And 
it is our further pleasure that . . . execution be suspended, 
until the final Determination of such Appeal . . . unless . . . 
sufficient security be given by the Appellee to make ample res- 
titution . . ., in case . . . such judgment . . . [be] reversed." 
The 33d instruction proceeded : "You are likewise to admit 
appeals unto us in Council, in all cases of fines.. . . for Mis- 
demeanors, provided the sum amounts to two hundred pounds 
sterUng, the Appellant first giving good security. ..." There- 
fore, ran Colden 's argument, if for appeal you were to under- 
stand "writ of error," the American would have no relief 
whatever in a suit involving less than three hundred, or, in one 
case, two hundred pounds, sterling; whereas an Englishman 
could get a writ of error in a suit for forty shillings. An act of 



A Colonial Executive 307 

Parliament regulated the security to be demanded in case of 
error; the instruction provided for the security to be given in 
case of an appeal. If they both meant the same thing, this v^as 
quite unnecessary. Again, the instructions ordered a suspension 
of proceedings in the event of an appeal ; a writ of error in itself 
acted as a stay of proceedings. Finally, the EngHsh judges of 
high rank decided on the errors of their inferiors; if the 2,26. 
instruction gave the governor and council the pov^er of correct- 
ing the technical mistakes of the judges of the Supreme Court, 
it would be authorizing a set of men, who might or might not 
have read a single legal treatise, to pass on the decisions of the 
leading lawyers in the province. If the word still remained 
doubtful, Golden added, the 33d instruction would surely make 
it clear, for how was it possible to tell whether a fine was ex- 
cessive or not if the merits of the case were not to come up for 
discussion. 

On the day when Golden gave the council his matured opinion 
based on these and many other facts, he held in his hand a paper 
to which he occasionally referred, and he had scarcely finished 
speaking before he was asked for a copy, a request that was 
repeated again and again. He did not grant it, however, until 
the next day, and then only with reluctance. He had, he said, 
merely jotted down a few notes to aid him in his purpose of 
presenting his point of view so clearly that it would be easy for 
the council to point out his mistakes, when by free discussion 
they might come to a mutual understanding. For this reason 
he was sending them the copy they wanted, but only in the strict- 
est confidence. Hence it was with indignation that at the next 
meeting of the council he listened to a paper in answer to his 
notes, prepared by the lawyers, but concluding with what 
assumed to be the council's final judgment, a formal dismissal 
of the appeal. To make their position certain, moreover, the 
members at once adopted this dictum, ordering it read by a 



3o8 Cadwallader Colden 

unanimous vote. But after a vigorous protest by Colden, who 
claimed his right to be considered as part of the council and 
decried such a use of his notes, some members proposed with- 
drawing their statement, and then the meeting adjourned to 
the next day. The members now changed their tactics, and 
proposing Colden 's old and discarded question as to the 
meaning of the 32d instruction, answered it themselves. The 
judges of the Supreme Court and the most prominent lawyers 
of the province, they said, had declared that the instruction re- 
ferred to an appeal in error only, and therefore they, unanimously 
believing this to be true, could take cognizance of no other. 
Colden entered his dissent and said that he would refer the 
matter to the ministry ; but when the members desired the law- 
yers' argument inserted in the minutes as the reason for their 
action, omitting, however, the clause assuming to be the coun- 
cil's decision, he remained passive, though he thought the pro- 
ceeding irregular. 

The lawyers had added little that was new and less that 
was convincing to Horsmanden's deductions, and Colden, 
indeed, held a logically impregnable position. Clearly, the 
instructions aimed at providing some rehef from an unfair 
verdict, and while the method outKned might not have been 
ideal, there seemed little reason for such fierce opposition 
until it had been tested and found oppressive. Moreover, 
its opponents offered no substitute, and considering man's 
fallibility, something of the sort seemed absolutely necessary. 
Finally, the members of the council were at least as well 
able to deal with points of fact as with points of law, and 
few cases were Hkely to cross the Atlantic. But no one 
had forgotten Colden 's refusal to sign the popular petitions 
of the year before, and no one paid very much attention 
to what he had to say now. Perhaps no one would have 
done so in any case. It was evident that the suits most likely 



A Colonial Executive .309 

to be appealed were those instituted against the great pro- 
prietors by neighbouring landlords, or by energetic officials in 
behalf of the crown. Always in close connection with the 
judges and often the judges themselves, they hitherto had been 
so free to execute their schemes that the prospect of even an 
occasional check was most unpleasing. It was, therefore, a fore- 
gone conclusion that their powerful influence would be added 
to the more active efforts of their natural allies, the lawyers, 
to make Cunningham's appeal a unique event. Moreover, 
England's policy ofifered an easy way to win the popular sup- 
port that had come to be a necessity for success. The right to 
appeal was coupled with the inability to import from Martinique 
or Guadaloupe, and with the possibihty of a man being forced 
to pay something to the king every time he bought a news- 
paper, and so skilfully that it seemed as great a grievance as 
the other two. Colden figured in the press as a tyrant of sinister 
intentions, and an enemy to all liberty, while great pains were 
taken to inform the people of the progress of affairs in the way 
that seemed proper to his opponents. The proceedings in coun- 
cil were published; the chief justice's speech, with a preface 
by John Morin Scott, was prepared in pamphlet form especially 
for use in England ; the New York Weekly Post Boy devoted a 
column to the subject under the heading of "The Sentinell," 
and later, these articles, supposed to be contributed, were issued 
separately and widely distributed. The text of all this litera- 
ture had two parts : Colden was trying to undermine the Eng- 
lish Constitution by eliminating the glorious privilege of trial 
by jury, and he was criminally erecting a new court. To be 
sure, Colden had answered the first charge with tolerable success. 
To be sure, also, when the instruction forbidding the estabhsh- 
ment of any new court had been significantly read in council, 
he had expressed himself as unable to understand its signifi- 
cance and disclaimed any idea or purpose at variance with a 



3IO Cadwallader Colden 

determination to carry out the instruction. But answer and 
protest were alike in vain. 

Granted that the ^26. instruction was obscure, said one con- 
tributor, a fact, however, that he would not admit, "Must not a 
man be as regardless of the honour of the Crown as of the liberty 
of the subject before he can venture on an interpretation which 
supposes the royal order to aim at altering the ancient and fun- 
damental laws of the land?" The statement that the colonists 
were aiming at independence was declared absurd. If they 
possessed all the rights of Englishmen, they had no need of 
independence. If they did not, why should they prefer the 
British to the French or any other constitution ? If, moreover, 
Colden 's interpretation was sustained, and if the right of appeal 
in criminal causes should be added, "From such a system," it 
was solemnly avowed, "The Star Chamber would be a redemp- 
tion." The most absurd attempts at wit were received with 
applause. The writ issued under such difficulties had directed 
the judges to lay aside all other matters and cause the proceed- 
ings to be brought before the governor in council. "What a 
most important cause is this," some one thought it worth while 
to write, "for the sake of which the judges must even desist from 
saying their prayers." It was smartly remarked that the new 
system had been proposed by "notaries, apothecaries, and old 
women," and "a droll fray between physick and law and cele- 
brating the victory of the latter," amused many. The serious- 
minded writers, however, were the more truly humorous. 
"Pray who is the inflamer of the people,"^ asked one of these in 
reference to a just remark of Colden's, "Caesar, who says they 
are not entitled to any liberty, and deprives them of what they 
have, or Brutus, who tells his countrymen that Caesar is a vil- 
lain for so saying and acting?" "Surely no man can expect,'' 
said another, "to conciliate the good graces of the ministry by 

1 "The Sentinell," March 14, 1765. 



A Colonial Executive 311 

representing them as having intended, what, if they did really 
intend, would render them highly criminal, and in all proba- 
bility raise against them the indignation of a British parUament. 
I am rather incUned to think, that whoever has been prompted 
by views like these, would soon find himself to have overacted 
his part ; and should such an event happen, I am confident it 
would not enhance the price of mourning a single farthing." 
A more fair-minded critic indeed acknowledged that the preva- 
lent dissatisfaction could be traced to the fact that they lived 
under a government "the most free, the most equal, and the 
most happy" that had ever existed; but it is safe to say that 
Brutus and the Star Chamber made more impression on the 
Post Boy^s readers. 

Indeed, however necessary it was to paint the issues of the 
day in broad lines for the benefit of a not over-enlightened people, 
there is something so meretricious about the New York leaders 
and their utterances at this time that it is impossible to feel much 
sympathy with them. It was now not much more than two 
years since the representatives of the colony had petitioned the 
king for judges during good behaviour, because "such a pleni- 
tude of uncontroulable Power in a court, whose Determinations 
under so large a Sum are understood to be neither reversible 
by Writ of Error or Appeal, in Persons who cannot in the 
Colony be impeached, and whom there are no hereditary Lords 
here to try, is an Object beheld with Terror ! " ^ Could incon- 
sistency further go ? Surely, such a change of opinion needs a 
more plausible explanation than an outburst of the spirit of 
Hampden and Pym. Moreover, though the fine patriotism of 
the assembly's petitions compels admiration, the more informal 
and probably more sincere statements of the Whig party show 
a disposition to bring England to terms or cast her aside, to 
disregard all reasons of sentiment for continued union, that was. 

1 Journal of the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., II, 718. 



312 Cadwallader C olden 

the reverse of conciliatory and must have brought forebodings 
to the loyaHsts even then. 



The ministry not complying with Golden 's plea for prompt 
support, the rigour of his critics lost some of its vehemence, at 
least temporarily. But no sooner had he entertained hopes of 
a somewhat peaceful spring, than he received a ministerial re- 
buke because he had not assisted several gentlemen of the Fox 
connection as he should have done. Lord Holland, Lord 
Ilchester, and ^ Mr. O'Brien, who had married Lord Ilchester's 
daughter, had obtained a grant of a huge but undefined tract 
of land in the province of New York, and Golden was blamed 
for the fact that it was still unlocated. Keenly hurt as he was 
by all English criticism, he spent the next few weeks in setthng 
the grievances of the syndicate and those of other Britons who 
wanted to be American landlords, and then left town for the 
summer. The tree-planted streets and flower-smothered houses 
made the little city look like a big garden, and aroused the 
enthusiasm of the travelling foreigner, but it was not considered 
a desirable dweUing-place in " the heats," and few of its wealthier 
inhabitants were without a near-by country place. Golden 's 
work followed him to Long Island, however, and so rapidly 
did business relating especially to land grants accumulate, 
that a meeting of the council soon became desirable. But 
the members were in a notoriously bad humour, and Golden 
delayed the evil day until another storm broke about his 
head. 

Despite his long-harboured conviction that the colonists were 
never far from rebellion, he had heard or seen nothing to make 
him think they were nearer than they had been, and had re- 
mained oddly ignorant of the bitter resolution which was 



A Colonial Executive 313 

planning organized opposition from Maine to the Carolinas. 
It was now some months since the threatened legislation had 
become a reality. The Stamp Act had been passed, and soon 
after, astonishingly soon, considering the distance England then 
was from America, copies at a shilUng apiece could be bought 
in all the large colonial towns, while newspapers and pamphlets 
offered the most radical advice for its treatment. But extreme 
language suited only to a supreme crisis had been used so long, 
that it is perhaps not surprising that Golden suspected nothing 
unusual. In July, indeed, he had ordered the Fort guard, 
which had been sent south by Gage in May, to be replaced by 
a detail of the Sixtieth Regiment of Artillery. He was probably 
also comfortably aware that their major, Arthur James, having 
formed certain opinions of his own, and finding the city's mili- 
tary stores scanty and in bad repair, had personally seen to their 
renovation and supply. Yet as far as he could observe, the 
people did not seem greatly agitated ; the Farmers' Almanacs, 
issued earlier than usual on purpose, recorded the rates in a 
matter-of-fact way, and Mr. James McEvers, who had been 
appointed distributor of stamps for New York, had gone out 
to Flushing to offer his security with all confidence that the 
duties of the office could be executed. It was therefore with 
astonished dismay that, on the 30th of August, Golden received 
Mr. McEver's resignation. A week or so before, to the "sur- 
prize and joy" of the people of Boston, an effigy of a stamp 
distributor had been strung up on a tall tree in the High 
Street, and later, placed on a bier, carried about the town, 
and then burned on Fort Hill, the wood for the bonfire hav- 
ing been taken from a half- finished building destined to 
hold the stamps. This "a number of reputable people" 
levelled to the ground, while they broke the windows in the 
stamp distributor's house, permitted the crowd which had fol- 
lowed to enter it "in multitudes," and so frightened the man 



314 Cadwallader C olden 

himself that he resigned. Frankly averse to repeating his ex- 
perience, McEvers chose to be discreet and resigned also.^ 

This was disurbing enough ; but the same day General Gage 
wrote to say that he considered the insurrectionary articles in 
the papers most alarming, and to ask if he could be of any as- 
sistance. Action of some sort seemed imperative, and Golden, 
who had received no word from England on the subject, and 
who did not even know the name of the vessel on which the 
stamps were coming, went up to town and called a council. 
Only three members answered his summons on September 3d, 
and these announced themselves unwilling to take the respon- 
sibihty of advising him; but a peremptory summons to the 
others secured a meeting on September 7 th, and another fol- 
lowed on September 9th. On both occasions the members 
denied any necessity for the defence of the city, a denial con- 
firmed by the city magistrates, while large and orderly meetings 
of the gentlemen of the town seemed to lend plausibihty to the 
statement that there was to be no violence. Still there had been 
another big riot in Boston; the New Haven stamp distributor 
had been pleasantly asked if he would yield the stamps on their 
arrival, or have his house pulled down; it was said all about 
town that the stamps would never leave their ship ; and the more 

^ Meanwhile the popular ardour was being kindled by such songs as the 
following : — 

He who for a Post, or base sordid Pelf, 

His Country betrays, makes a Rope for himself; 

Of this an Example before you we bring, 

In these infamous Rogues, who in Effigy swing. 



Those Blessings our Fathers obtained by their Blood, 
We are justly oblig'd as their Sons to make good; 
All internal Taxes let us then nobly Spurn, 
These Effigies first — next the Stamped Papers burn. 

Chorus: Sing Tartarara, burn all, burn all. 



A Colonial Executive 315 

conservative of the New York weeklies, in congratulating the 
friends of Mr. McEvers, said that, though he had cleared him- 
self from "the Imputation of joining the Design to enslave his 
country" of his own free will, it was probably "no more safe 
than honourable for any other to attempt it." ^ But Golden 
had done one or two things that made his mind easier. The day 
of his return to town a reUef for the artillery regiment happening 
to arrive from England, it had been ordered into the Fort, and 
the garrison now numbered one hundred men besides officers; 
General Gage had received a suggestion of the desirabiUty of 
quartering a battahon of regulars in the city barracks on the 
Common ; and Golden had advised the receiver general, Gap- 
tain Kennedy, to bespeak all vessels coming within Sandy 
Hook until he should discover the ship bringing the stamps, 
when he was to tell the captain of his danger and act as his 
escort until the cargo was secured. 

The rest of the month of September passed in tolerable quiet, 
and Golden noted somewhat pathetically that he could walk 
the streets without receiving any marks of disrespect. There 
were many indications, however, that the excitement had not 
reached its climax. The governors of New Hampshire and 
Connecticut wrote begging Golden to take care of their stamps, 
while the friends of the New Hampshire distributor promised 
to leave him to popular vengeance should he presume to exe- 
cute his office, and the Connecticut official was made to resign 
in a spectacular manner, one of the requirements being the 
repeated recital of the words "Liberty and Property." The 
distributor for Maryland, moreover, arrived in town, having 
fled precipitately from a mob which threatened to force his 
resignation, only to find every tavern door in New York closed 
to him, and himself obliged to ask a lodging in the Fort. Golden 
gave him a bed in his own house, but he refused to take care of 

* Gaines's Weekly Mercury, August 19, 1765. 



3i6 Cadwallader C olden 

any stamps except his own, not feeling particularly desirous of 
any increase of responsibility. 

About this time also Golden heard that the assembly in Massa- 
chusetts had issued invitations to the continental colonies to 
send representatives to a convention to be held in New York 
during the first week in October for the discussion of questions 
relating to the famous act. Whereupon he gravely pronounced 
it illegal and inconsistent with the Constitution of the colonies, 
as they were supposed to be distinct and independent from each 
other in government. But the men from South Carolina were 
already at the door, a week or more ahead of time, and Colden's 
protest was probably Hstened to by no one. 

He made another vehement protest to the Secretary of State 
on the pubUcation of an unusually seditious sheet styled 
the Constitutional Courant, curiously enough having sent an 
account of it to FrankHn by the preceding ship in order that he 
might know all about it first, and in full confidence of his sym- 
pathy. The paper, it seemed, had not gone through the New 
York post-office, but had been delivered to the post-rider at 
Woodbridge, New Jersey, by James Parker, the well-known 
printer, from which point it had been distributed by him and 
other post-riders throughout New York and several other colo- 
nies. It was Colden's opinion that Parker had printed it on 
the refusal of another New York printer to do so, and he thought 
Franklin might be able to tell by the types. 

At length, on the i8th of October, the good ship Edward 
Davis, containing the stamps and goods for various consignees 
besides, arrived at Sandy Hook, whence, successively escorted 
by a frigate, a sloop, and a man-of-war, it sailed up the Narrows 
and anchored under cover of the guns of the fort. The stamps 
were accompanied by no bill of lading or word of directions, 
and Colden called a council at once. Only three members 
attended, — Chief Justice Horsmanden, Judge Smith, and Mr. 



A Colonial Executive 317 

Reid ; and these refused to give any advice without a full board. 
If they should advise the detention of the ship, they said, every 
man with goods on board would want to sue for damages. 
They did suggest, however, that a sloop be hired to take off the 
goods, but there was no sloop to be had, and Golden was astute 
enough to refuse to impress one. Instead, he ordered the 
captains of the king's ships in the harbour to remove the goods 
in order to get at the stamps,* and by the 26th of October, all 
but three of the packages were safe in his Majesty's ship Gar- 
land, those three being so far down in the hold that their removal 
would have endangered the ship. There they remained one 
or two days and then were taken into the Fort at noonday 
without a guard and without any disturbance. The feeling of 
opposition, however, had never been more intense, and now it 
was opposition that felt itself supported and justified by the 
attitude of the whole Atlantic seaboard from the Kennebec to 
the Savannah. Not only had the Stamp Act Congress proved 
the colonial representatives to be one in sentiment, commer- 
cially at least, but the treatment of the stamp distributors 
showed that the people, New Englanders and Southerners ahke, 
were inspired by a common feehng. North Carohna, Penn- 
sylvania, and Rhode Island also having by this time made it 
certain that the officials selected for that purpose should not 
distribute a stamp within their borders. When the stamps 
were coming up New York Bay every merchant ship in the 
harbour dropped her colours, while that night notices threaten- 
ing all persons handUng them were posted on the doors of all 
pubUc offices, at street corners, and in the coffee-houses. In- 
deed, the inhabitants were planning to give a cold reception 
to British consignments in general. Many gentlemen had 
promised to import nothing whatever until Great Britain should 
realize her mistake ; a Homespun Market was to be held once 
^ Golden Letter Books, II, 48. 



3i8 Cadwallader C olden 

a week in the New Exchange, and Dorothea in the city, with 
less patriotism perhaps than her Puritan cousins would have 
shown, was already writing to PhylHs in the country that she was 
to be forced to make a fright of herself. 

Yet all this did not prevent Colden from quietly making 
ready with the aid of his son David to put the stamps in cir- 
culation on November i st, the day appointed by the law. Here 
he undoubtedly made his great mistake, and nothing shows this 
more clearly than the very different hne of conduct followed 
by the governor of Massachusetts. Reports having been cir- 
culated that this official was going to distribute the stamps, he 
called his council together and told them that such a report was 
absurd. It was true he was going to have the stamps placed 
in the Castle, which he was going to strengthen with every means 
in his power; but he was certainly not going to make himself 
ridiculous by assuming the responsibihty for so much valuable 
property. He said, moreover, that he was going to strengthen 
the Castle for two reasons, — to prevent insult to the king, 
and to save the town from having to answer for the stamped 
papers.^ This was common sense, and Colden would have 
done well to follow the example of his brother executive. There 
was plenty of time for this, for the Boston governor had made 
his decision nearly two months before. But, as has been said, 
Colden had other plans, and his son even went so far as to ask 
the ministry for the office of distributor of stamps, though 
people were saying that in the London coffee-houses they 
were betting a hundred guineas to ten that the bill would be 
repealed when Parliament met in November, and though the 
master of the ship bringing the stamps was so infected by the 
prevaiHng spirit that he humbly apologized for what he had 
done. 

Impossible as it may seem, two circumstances occurred in 

^ Gaines's Mercury, September i6, 1765. 



A Colonial Executive 319 

October which promised to make it even more difficult for Colden 
to force his point on November ist than it would have been a 
month earlier. It seems that after the council of New York 
had refused to have anything to do with his appeal, Waddell 
Cunningham had petitioned the king in council to hear his case. 
The matter was referred to the committee for hearing appeals 
from the plantations, and they had reported that, as appeals only 
lay to the king in council from his council of New York, the 
proper procedure must be maintained, and Cunningham's ap- 
plication was refused. The privy councillors, however, had been 
impressed by Colden's careful information, and they ordered 
the council of New York to hear Cunningham's appeal.^ Their 
order reached New York in October, and on the 9th Colden, 
having first communicated it to the council, issued writs to the 
same effect as those that had so disturbed the province the year 
before. The same day Cunningham's attorney also apphed 
to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal to the governor 
in council, asking besides that counsel be appointed to assist 
him. The judges asked what right he had to do so, and when 
he showed Cunningham's power of attorney, said that this was 
not sufficient, and even if it was, they could not grant his request, 
as there was no proper writ authorizing them to send up the 
records, and they were not empowered to assign counsel where 
they had no jurisdiction. Here for a time the case rested ; but 
meanwhile the popular resentment at Colden's course in the 
affair was boundless, and though other news gave the enraged 
citizens some satisfaction, it did not lessen their abhorrence of 
the lieutenant-governor. 

VI 

It was now known to every one that Sir Henry Moore had 
been appointed governor-in-chief of the province, and might be 

^ Colden Letter Books, II, 39-42. 



320 Cadwallader C olden 

expected at any moment. Golden, therefore, could enjoy his 
somewhat tenuous honours little longer, and for this reason he 
delayed the renewal of his oaths of office as long as possible, 
such renewal being enjoined on all officers of government on 
or before the last day of October. But when the 31st at length 
arrived he complied with the law. It happened, however, 
that this law had not been sent over that year as was customary, 
and one Supreme Court justice at least said that this freed 
Golden from all obhgation. Indeed, the lawyers had deter- 
mined that he should not renew his oaths, and when he chose 
to do so, as did also every other governor on the continent, 
they promptly showed their disapproval. By promising to 
see that all laws were enforced, he had in effect promised to 
enforce the Stamp Act, and almost at once placards appeared 
in the Merchants' Goffee-house, and at street corners which 
accused the lieutenant-governor of having "bound himself by 
an oath to be the Ghief Murderer of the Rights and Privileges 
of the People; to be an Enemy to his King, his Gountry, and 
Mankind," * and threatened him with death in case he attempted 
to keep his word to the letter. 

The excitement in the city had become intense. All sorts of 
rumours were afloat, and that very morning a man had come to 
Golden to tell him that there was a plot on foot to bury Major 
James ahve that day or the next. He said he had the tale from 
a certain shoemaker, and Golden at once despatched him to 
the mayor for examination; at the same time informing that 
magistrate that he had heard there was to be a riot the next day, 
and exhorting him, with the other magistrates, to join in keeping 
the peace. The next day, the ist of November, the magistrates 
sent word to Golden that they themselves feared a mob that 
night, and their fears were thoroughly reahzed. About six 
o'clock every gamin in town, with many privateers and dis- 

^ Ibid., II, 460. 



A Colonial Executive 321 

banded soldiers and the riffraff of the population generally, 
assembled under the direction of some leaders of a better class, 
and divided themselves into two parties. Of these one went to 
the "Fields," where on two gibbets they suspended two effigies, 
one of the governor, with a drum on his back and a label on his 
chest, and holding a stamped paper in his hand, and one of the 
devil. The other party also had a representation of the governor 
which they placed in his chariot. This they dragged around 
the town by torchhght until, after being joined by the other 
party, they proceeded to the Fort. Here, saluting the effigies 
with wild shouts and jeers, they battered down the gate and 
emptied the coach-house. But the soldiers were looking on 
quietly from the ramparts, many of the gentlemen of the town 
had gathered in the background, and a stranger could have 
thought it was some popular spectacle that was being enacted. 
Finally, the mob turned toward Bowling Green. Here they 
tore down the pahsades, and, making a bonfire of these, with 
Colden's chariot, his two sleighs, and his sedan chair, they 
burned the effigies of the heutenant-governor and his evil com- 
panion. The major part of the crowd would now perhaps 
have turned home satisfied, but the blood of the leaders was up, 
and within an hour the mob had destroyed one of the finest 
houses in town, the house which Major James had just remodelled 
for his own use and filled with books, pictures, and objects of 
art such as few colonial homes could boast; while his beauti- 
fully laid-out garden, with the summer houses in which his 
wife had planned to take so much pleasure, was reduced to a 
dust heap. 

The next day an unpleasant-looking crowd filled the streets, 
and rumours of every description the air. People said the Fort 
would be stormed that night, that the mob had said they would 
kill every one in it, while letters and messages brought Golden 
the agreeable news that he was going to be hanged. Now and 



322 Cadwallader C olden 

again prominent townsmen came to the Fort with various 
schemes for the solution of the difficulty, and toward evening 
a party of these proposed that the lieutenant-governor give his 
word to make no effort to distribute the stamps, but to leave them 
where they were until some decision should be reached as to 
their further disposal. This request Colden considered but 
another step in the plot. His interlocutors knew perfectly 
well, as he said later, that he could not have found a single man 
wilHng to receive a single stamp; so that for him to execute 
the function of distribution was clearly an impossibihty. Yet, 
if he answered them in the affirmative, he, even he, was liable 
to rebuke from that government which in its days of greatest 
laxity could never be depended on to demand only the possible 
from its servants. Nevertheless, he had observed the temper 
of the mob, and he took what seemed the lesser risk. The word 
was passed out into the rapidly darkening streets that the lieu- 
tenant-governor would leave the stamps alone; gradually 
the mob slunk away, and quietness settled down on the 
town. But two days later the mob raised a new demand. 
They wanted the stamps put on one of the British ships in the 
harbour, and, though such a demand seemed quite unreasonable, 
Colden communicated it to Captain Kennedy. Kennedy said 
the idea was impracticable, that the season of the year would soon 
oblige the ships to tie up at the wharves, and that the stamps 
were far safer where they were. Then again the crowd filled 
the streets and the threats of the preceding days were renewed. 
Colden, who reflected with pride that with nearly a hundred 
soldiers on hand on the ist of November, he had not given a 
single order for resistance, though one round of shot might 
have subdued the people, now felt that the policy of non- 
resistance had been given a fair trial. He therefore ordered all 
the guns of the town that commanded the Fort spiked, and, 
all the officers in the neighbourhood having gradually joined the 



A Colonial Executive 323 

garrison, prepared to defend his position with energy. His 
action was perceived with the most venomous criticism, and an 
absurd Hbel that opportunely left the press that very day was 
received with happy creduHty/ 

It will perhaps be remembered that when Colden, as a young 
Philadelphia physician, had returned to Scotland on a visit, 
he found himself in the midst of the famous uprising known as 
" the '15. " He had made the journey down from London in the 
company of an old friend, Lord Jedburgh, afterward Marquis 
of Lothian. They found themselves in perfect agreement on 
the part their country should play, and some weeks later, when 
Colden was sitting one Sunday in his father's Httle church, a 
note from Jedburgh was handed him telhng of the arrival of a 
body of Highlanders in the neighbourhood, and asking him to 
raise a company to oppose them. Colden soon brought to- 
gether seventy or eighty men, the largest number recruited by 
any one man that day, and took them to meet Jedburgh at Kelso, 
where they did good service until the order for retreat was given. 
How these facts had furnished the basis for a charge that Colden 
had fought against his king, it is impossible to say. Yet Gov- 
ernor Cosby had proposed to make such a charge part of a gen- 
eral indictment with a view to the surveyor general's enforced 
retirement from office. Moreover, when Horsmanden, who 
had been a guest at Colden's home for weeks at a time, and had 
heard this story among other family traditions, fell out with the 
Clinton administration, he wrote an article in a party paper, 
calling Colden the "Rebel Drummer." Naturally, to him Col- 
den ascribed the revival of the canard at this time. Naturally, 
also, he felt that the man had a fair record whose enemies were ^ 

1 Copy of a paper sent to the Secretary of State, indorsed: "A Narrative 
of some facts relative to Mr. Colden occasioned by a Libell Printed in New York, 
Nov. 4, 1765, which it is believed the Printer was really compelled by force to 
Print." Colden Letter Books, II, 63. 



324 Cadwallader C olden 

obliged to seek material for their pamphlets and catchwords 
for their followers in a long disproved incident fifty years old. 
Meanwhile, the merchants and magistrates had continued 
their efforts to bring about an agreement, which meant, being 
interpreted, that the mob should get whatever they might 
decide to ask. This, it seemed, was nothing less than the stamps 
themselves, and on the morning of November 5th, representa- 
tives of the common council came to the lieutenant-governor 
and asked him out of mere compassion to propitiate and quiet 
the mob by giving the packages into the custody of the 
mayor and his associates. Colden said that he would seek 
the advice of the council before replying. But to the council he 
said that if the magistrates could enforce quiet alone, they could 
enforce it much more with his assistance, and he suggested that 
such evident submission to a mob's caprice would only bring 
increased demands. The council took a different view. It 
would be impossible, they maintained, for the mob to take the 
Fort. Yet there was danger of their attacking it, and if so, the 
loss of life involved in its necessary defence would be great. 
They therefore advised him to yield. But though Colden often 
said that he would have been glad to shift the charge of the 
stamps in the beginning, when by so doing he would have been 
accounted mad, he hated to succumb to intimidation. When, 
however. General Gage, to whom he next apphed, seconded 
the advice of the council, he felt no longer justified in refusing. 
After making a statement of his position, he dehvered up the 
packages on the mayor's receipt; the stamps were placed in 
the City Hall, under a small guard; and the mob quietly and 
finally withdrew. The popular notion of the provincial, as 
opposed to the city, government could not be more forcibly 
illustrated. The provincial government was a foe because it 
considered itself bound to execute the laws; the city govern- 
ment was a friend because it saw no such necessity. 



A Colonial Executive 325 

Eight days later Sir Henry Moore arrived, and Golden, 
turning over his residence as well as his command with mihtary 
promptness, retired to the house of his grandson, Stephen De- 
lancey, where he remained until the i8th of November, fre- 
quently going about the town and meeting with no discourtesy. 
Then, escorted to the ferry by a number of personal friends, 
he retired to Spring Hill, his home at Flushing. Here he settled 
down once more with his books about him, his quiet life inter- 
rupted once a week by a dinner at Jamaica with old associates 
from town. At these dinners pohtics were tabooed ; but Golden 
had not himself bidden them good-by, and on the 13th of De- 
cember he sent a "State of the Province of New York" to the 
Secretary of State and Board of Trade.* In this interesting 
study, dividing the population into four classes, — the great land- 
owners, the lawyers, the merchants, and the farmers, — he 
discusses their relation to each other, to the provincial govern- 
ment, and to Great Britain itself, illustrating his conclusions 
from the controversies of his own administration, and supplying 
data for an impartial judgment of the non-importation agree- 
ment of the Stamp Act Gongress. His suggestions, offered in 
another letter, were an English attorney and solicitor general 
and judges from England also, with one complete regiment to 
maintain law and order. In this way, he thought, the govern- 
ment might ride the crisis he now beUeved at its height. 

It is interesting ^hat the man who is held responsible for the 
Stamp Act, the man who at this time was at the head of the 
British government, held much the same point of view. In- 
deed, between Golden and Grenville there are many parallels. 
The same lack of imagination, the same disregard of expediency, 
the same fearlessness, the same behef in the prevalence of a 
governmental ideal under any conditions, characterized them 
both. But Golden had broader sympathies, a wider culture, a 

1 Golden Letter Books, II, 68-78. 



326 Cadwallader C olden 

more developed civic sense, and, where his prejudices did not 
operate too strongly, a more progressive standpoint than had 
Grenville. It is true, he read the revolutionary tendency in 
America as the manifestation of the spirit of anarchy, of revolt 
against justified authority, roused in willing minds by self- 
interested demagogues. But there was much to justify this 
view in that province where the colonies had first felt a common 
interest, and the beginnings of union had been laid. How unfit 
for understanding a frugal, honest, reUgious people were the 
bribe-taking, hard-drinking, card-playing rakes in Parliament 
has been shown. But piety, honesty, and industry had not been 
conspicuous attributes of New York's leaders from Judge Morris 
on, nor were they more characteristic of the earlier champions 
of liberty. Their escapades had often only been restricted by 
meagreness of opportunity, and up to this period the presence 
of men of proved integrity in party councils was rare enough to 
be noteworthy. Golden had long been wise enough to foresee 
the Revolution ; he had, perhaps, been wise enough to select 
some of the remedies that would have prevented it; and it 
would have taken a far wiser man than he to have predicted 
the quality of its success from its beginnings as he saw them. 

Meanwhile, Sir Henry Moore had been cultivating popularity. 
The improvements Major James had introduced into the Fort 
were removed, the stamps were left where they were, and, show- 
ing himself about town in a homespun coat, the badge of the 
Sons of Liberty, the new governor went in person to the coffee- 
house which was their headquarters, to publish anything he 
thought might be of interest to them. Naturally, under the 
circumstances, he failed to show even formal courtesy to his 
predecessor, while in his first speech to the assembly he never 
mentioned the Stamp Act, though he earnestly requested aid 
for the sufferers from a fire at Montreal. Nor did he interfere 
in any degree with the business of the following session, which, 



A Colonial Executive 327 

despite the fact that some of the members were supposed to be 
in active sympathy with the rioters, was conservative in tone. 
The committee appointed the year before to correspond with 
the other colonies having made itself responsible for the part 
New York had taken in the Stamp Act Congress, the assembly 
hastened to approve its action, and then, having dismissed it 
with thanks, appointed another to address king and Parha- 
ment in petitions adapted to the colony's special needs, but re- 
sembhng the congressional petitions as closely as possible. 
Indeed, the members were too conservative to please some out- 
side, and an anonymous letter signed "Freedom," and pur- 
porting to be from a man of the people and a Son of Liberty, was 
voted by the representatives it criticised to be "Libelous, Scanda- 
lous and Seditious." They also offered a reward for the dis- 
covery of its author. Yet on one point they must have beheved 
him to be right-minded, for, while he had only suggested that 
they deduct enough from the Heutenant-governor's salary to 
"Repair the fort and on Spike the Guns on the Battery," they 
went so far as to ignore the fact that it was due, and displayed 
a sustained and ever increasing bitterness toward their former 
chief. ^ 

On November 28th it was ordered that the great committee 
for courts of justice, which was in fact the committee of the 
whole, should consider the illegal attempt which had been 
made during the recess "to deprive the Inhabitants of this Col- 
ony of their ancient and undoubted Right of Trial by Peers," ^ 
and on December 14th the committee reported. The Supreme 
Court justices had informed the governor and council on No- 
vember 1 2th that they could not send up the records unless in 
a case of error, but the committee even opposed appeals of that 
sort, because, forsooth, the House of Lords was the highest 
court in England for such appeals, and for an American to be 

> Journal of the Genl. Ass. of N. Y., II, 786. ^ /j/j^ ^g^ 



328 Cadwallader C olden 

obliged to turn to the Privy Council was unjust discrimination. 
Their report, however, was devoted exclusively to appeals from 
the verdict. They were illegal, they violated the rights of the 
subject, they would prevent justice, they promised the ultimate 
ruin of the colony. It, moreover, appeared to the house that 
Cadwallader Colden had done his utmost to give success to 
this dangerous innovation, and had filled the mind of his 
Majesty's subjects of New York with jealousy and distrust. 
On the other hand, the justices of the Supreme Court, the coun- 
cil, and Cunningham's lawyers had done well, and merited the 
approval of all lovers of their country. Colden thought pubhc 
censure of this sort deserved a detailed reply, and began at once 
an account of the principal controversies of his administration. 
Before he had finished it, however, in February, 1766, he was 
startled by receiving a letter from Mr. Secretary Conway.^ 
Conway had been one of the English opponents of the Stamp 
Act. Nevertheless, he now expressed the disapproval of both 
the king and his servants, because Colden had, on the 2d of 
November, 1765, promised to do nothing further until the 
arrival of Sir Henry Moore. Why he should have said this on 
Tuesday, when he had said on Saturday that he would do 
everything in his power to execute the law, was a puzzling in- 
consistency that they could not but condemn. A month later 
Colden was still more astounded by the information that Archi- 
bald Kennedy had been superseded in his office by the king's 
order, because of his conduct concerning the stamps as revealed 
in Colden 's letters. Once again, could imbecihty further go? 
To blame an old and devoted servant of the crown, who had 
dared the utmost unpopularity by his persistent loyalty, merely 
because he had, on the advice of his council, promised not to 
do what he could not have done in regard to certain stamps, 

* Colden Letter Books, II, 94-96. Copy of Mr. Secretary Conway's letter 
to Lieutenant-Governor Colden. 



A Colonial Executive 329 

about which he had not received a single order, was outrageous 
enough. To blame another because he had refused to take 
these stamps, knowing that if he did, he would probably be 
forced to surrender them, was more than outrageous. Besides, 
when Kennedy refused to take the stamps on his Majesty's 
ships, he not only knew that when the vessels were put up for the 
winter the stamps would become an easy prey, but he knew that 
in the meanwhile his wife's property and his, which consisted 
of large holdings of improved real estate, would not be worth a 
straw if he yielded. His duty certainly had not seemed to 
demand such a sacrifice ; but England evidently had no inchna- 
tion to master the circumstances, and it was not strange that 
her censure struck in the wrong place. 

Her rebukes were the more extraordinary because of her 
own conduct; for as summer approached pubhc and private 
reports of the doings of that session of ParUament brought the 
news that the colonies, apparently, had won. The Stamp 
Act was repealed, and New York was soon rejoicing as enthusi- 
astically as she had protested. The reaction of the strain of 
the past months was complete. Expressions, material and 
verbal, of gratitude to Parhament, of devotion to king and coun- 
try, of kinship with all true Britons everywhere, abounded, 
and, like the rest. New York was too excited to observe that 
other act of Parliament in which the full right to tax the colonies 
in all ways whatsoever had been asserted. To Colden the 
whole thing seemed preposterous, and it required all his accu- 
mulated reverence for authority to assume a wisdom he could 
not see in the government's action. To be intimidated into 
the repeal of an act before attempting its enforcement, and while 
reiterating its propriety, was to him incomprehensible, and 
promised increased difficulties in the future. 

It is now conceded by historians generally that there was 
nothing illegal about the famous bill, that Parhament had a 



330 Cadwallader Colden 

perfect right to pass it, and that the distinction made between 
external and internal taxation was superfine. It is, none the 
less, considered a measure so blundering, unstatesmanlike, 
and inexpedient that it was quite as unjustifiable as if it had 
transgressed the law. But, as has perhaps been sufficiently 
pointed out, frequent blunders marked England's colonial 
policy. Had the government long before taken Colden's ad- 
vice and established a highly centralized colonial bureaucracy, 
strong enough and independent enough to enforce its com- 
mands, or had it decided to allow a system of self-government, 
exacting merely a sort of general allegiance, in either case 
issues would have been defined, and people would have known 
where they stood. It is true that George III and some of his 
ministers would have been quite capable of upsetting any and 
all existing regulations, but the breach would have been obvious, 
it would have stirred a clear-eyed and authoritative opposi- 
tion appealing to the best elements in all the provinces; it 
would, in short, have been met as like transgressions were met 
at home. 

Besides his general disapproval of the repeal, Colden must 
have noted that, while he had been blamed for refusing to oppose 
his own advisers and a mob combined, the whole government, 
king, ministry, and Parliament, had capitulated three thou- 
sand miles away. But if he thought this unfair, he did not say 
so, and quietly turned his attention to obtaining some financial 
redress. Parliament had passed resolutions to be sent to the 
colonial governors, directing them to require their assemblies 
to compensate all officers of government for their losses in the 
late riots. Colden, placing his own losses, ascertained on 
oath, at ;^i95 35., and to these adding the ;;^4oo of salary 
due him for the last two months of his administration, sent 
the account to both governor and assembly, asking Moore 
to put some special emphasis on his case. Moore did noth- 



A Colonial Executive 331 

ing of the kind, however, and while Major James, who had 
so infuriated the inhabitants by bringing the howitzers into 
the Fort, received his damages by a majority of one vote, and 
all other apphcants received theirs, Colden's plea was passed 
over in silence. Hopeless of redress in America, the aged 
lieutenant-governor then asked a pension, reminding the min- 
istry that it could not be for long. With his application he en- 
closed a proclamation of Sir Henry's, offering a reward for the 
apprehension of seven men guilty of high treason. These men, 
Golden explained, were tenants and farmers who, rendered 
desperate by the oppression of interminable lawsuits, had 
taken advantage of the general excitement, broken open a jail, 
and threatened the persons and effects of some of the great 
landowners. Whereupon Sir Henry had issued his proclamation, 
and the Twenty-eighth Regiment had been sent to quiet the little 
rebellion. Far from justifying it. Golden simply called atten- 
tion to the method of its treatment, as contrasted with that in 
use in a certain late event. Yet November, 1766, came with 
the first anniversary of the famous riot, and Golden had not 
received a penny or a word of commendation for his devotion 
to the government. Surely, as he said, here was little encour- 
agement to loyalty. He knew that it had been asked in Parha- 
ment if he were not generally disHked, a question that caused 
him much bitterness; and he knew that many defamatory 
papers had been sent to England. Therefore, in the hope of 
leaving an unsullied reputation to his children, he at length 
sent his completed vindication to his old friend Golhnson, with 
full directions for its distribution. A hundred and twenty 
copies were to be printed, and of these twenty were to be sent to 
Golden, and a hundred were to be given to members of Parlia- 
ment and other officials named in an enclosed hst. 

In December the assembly met again, and Golden was sur- 
prised by receiving a letter from the speaker asking him why 



332 Cadwallader Colden 

he did not send in his accounts. Colden replied with much 
dignity that he had thought the compensation to sufferers by 
the riots was to be a free act of gratitude to ParHament, and 
that repeated appUcation, making it less voluntary, would be 
disagreeable to the house. His salary he alone regarded as a 
debt. But this the assembly again refused, because, they said, 
the lieutenant-governor had brought his losses on himself. 
Colden's conduct having been what it was, the connection in 
sympathy between legislators and mob was evident. Colden 
wrote of their decision to Shelburne, and when, on May 15, 
1767, the House of Commons addressed the king, begging a 
mark of his royal favour for those governors and officers who 
had distinguished themselves in the service of crown and 
Parliament in the late disturbances in North America, every 
one in New York thought that Colden was meant. Yet a 
third autumn came around and still he had heard nothing. 

But it was only his good fortune that lagged. Despite all 
his care, his vindication, consisting in the main of a narrative 
of facts susceptible of proof by the records, had been reprinted 
in New York, and had caused as much indignation, as if self- 
defence was a despotic act. The copy, it was said, had been 
furnished the printer by a son of one of the judges. However 
this might have been, shortly after its pubUcation the Supreme 
Court met, and on the tenth day of the sitting, as the jurors 
were walking up to the City Hall expecting to be discharged, 
Judge Livingston met them and asked if they were going to 
present the vindication. According to current gossip they had 
repeatedly been urged to do this during the session, but had 
always refused. They now refused again, and though Living- 
ston told them they would not be discharged until they yielded, 
they repeated their refusal in court. But when Judge Living- 
ston handed them a copy, and Chief Justice Horsmanden 
charged them to present it, they did so in his own words, stig- 



A Colonial Executive 333 

matizing it as "a very vile, infamous, false and libellous Reflec- 
tion on his Majesty's Council, Assembly, Courts of Justice 
and the whole body of the Law in this Province." * 

In all this Colden saw some faint ground for encouragement. 
There seemed little doubt that the smuggler was flourishing in 
the land as he had not flourished in years. He was smugghng, 
too, in the grand manner, and his manipulation of whole cargoes 
from Holland, and ship-loads of wine, would have made the old 
hands stare. The merchant thus had as much reason as the 
big landlord to fear the law, and for a grand jury composed 
largely of merchants to oppose its leading exponents for so long 
a time, proved to Colden their possession of strongly conflicting 
opinions, and he felt less disheartened than he might otherwise 
have done. There was more to follow, however. On November 
17th the assembly met, and on the 2 2d of December Mr. 
Livingston, having read certain passages in a pamphlet entitled 
"The Conduct of Cadwallader Colden, Esquire, Late Lieuten- 
tant Governor of New York, relating to the Judges Commis- 
sions, Appeals to the King and the Stamp Duty," ^ commented 
vigorously thereon, and then moved that a committee be ap- 
pointed to examine the contents of the publication and discover 
its author and pubhsher. The motion was carried, and Liv- 
ingston was empowered to carry a message to the council for 
the appointment of a joint committee of investigation. Mr. 
Smith, Mr. Roger Morris, and Mr. Watts were accordingly 
added to the assembly's appointees, and one week later a report 
was presented. This not only reaffirmed Livingston's censures, 
but submitted many more, and according to it the pamphlet 
contained "the most maHgnant aspersions upon the inhabitants 
of this colony in general," and tended "to destroy the Confi- 
dence of the people in two branches of the legislature and in 
the officers concerned in the due administration of justice ; to 

* Colden Letter Books, II, 131-142, 146-150. ' Ibid., II, 429. 



334 Cadwallader Colden 

render the government odious and contemptible ; to abate that 
due respect to authority, which was so necessary to peace and 
good order; to excite disadvantageous suspicions and jealousies 
in the minds of the people of Great Britain against his Majesty's 
subjects in this colony ; and to expose the colony in general to 
the resentments of the Crown and both houses of parUament." 
Counter- vindication, accordingly, seemed imperative, and a com- 
mittee was appointed to refute the charges of the pamphlet, 
to discover its author and pubUsher, and to suggest the nature 
of their punishment. On the 14th of January, 1768, this com- 
mittee summoned and examined Colden 's son, having examined 
his son-in-law and others before; and the day after its leading 
spirit, Mr. Livingston, left town and was seen no more during 
that session. But the report of the joint committee was pub- 
lished the day before the January session of the Supreme Court; 
and on the last day of the assembly's session, when but a bare 
quorum was present, a series of resolves were presented and 
passed which embodied the charges contained therein. 

Colden's position would have been hard enough had he been 
twenty years younger. Three years before, he, the heutenant- 
governor, had been set up in the public prints as a target at 
which he who pleased might aim. "These pretended patriots 
of liberty," he had said, "have boldly asserted things well known 
in this place to be false, pubhshed them here, & made use of 
their being pubHshed in this place as an argument of their 
truth." Yet his first attempt at retaliation, or rather, for it 
was scarcely that, of simple self -justification, was charged by 
the grand jury of the province with being a vile libel. When it 
is remembered, however, that the government, for which mis- 
takenly or not he had risked all, had now let considerably more 
than two years pass without adding a word to Conway's letter 
and that this fact was known to every man in the province; 
that William Smith, that "patriotic Billy," who was recognized 



A Colonial Executive 



335 



as a leader of the Sons of Liberty, had since been made a member 
of council; and that Oliver Delancey who, though he liked the 
Independents httle, Uked Golden less, was at that very moment 
popularly supposed to be telhng tales to the Duke of Grafton, 
to whom he had access through a cousin married to Golonel 
Fitzroy, it is not hard to understand why Golden was accorded 
such scant respect. But it is hard to understand the mental 
processes of such a government. As Golden wrote to Mansfield : ^ 
"I make no doubt your Lordships Gompassion would be moved 
in the case of any private person under such malicious undeserved 
persecution but my Lord when the case is of a virulent 
Faction against their Governor for performing his Duty in sup- 
porting the Authority of the Parliament & the Dependence 
of the Golony of Great Britain, a neglect of Protection must 
be of most dangerous example & deter every officer of the Grown 
from his duty. In truth this has in a great measure been already 
the Gase. Even private men think it imprudent to speak their 
Sentiments whereas had they who think they owe obedience to 
the parliament of Or Britain been properly supported the 
opposition had been silenced before this time. Whatever 
the wisdom of the Ministry may suggest to be the true 
policy of Great Britain with respect to her Golonies they never 
can think it good policy to deliver up their faithfull servants 
supposing they may have erred in Judgment to the violent 
resentment of a virulent Faction who stood in opposition to the 
Authority of Parliament." 

VII 

Golden undoubtedly deplored such idiotic procedure, for the 
sake of the government even more than for his own, but it 
could have been, indeed was, no easy thing for a man of nearly 

■ Letter Books, II, 156. 



336 Cadwallader Golden 

eighty to find himself acknowledged nowhere. There seemed, 
however, to be some slight indications of a reaction in popular 
feehng. The pamphlet was plainly the production of a man of 
strongly conservative, but not bigoted, opinions, and it was 
favourably received by many. It was eagerly bought and widely 
read, and the observing soon detected a sHght change in the 
"tone of coffee-house conversations. "Why was not -the lieu- 
tentant-governor summoned to council meetings?" people 
began to ask, and when they heard it was because he might be 
mobbed, there were many who retorted that he would run no 
such risk unless the council itself wished it. But a more con- 
vincing proof of reaction was to be found in the elections. The 
old assembly having expired by the Septennial Act, and writs 
for a new one having been issued, the "Whig Interest," as it 
now began to be called, was surprisingly unsuccessful at the 
polls. Two "repubhcans" were defeated in Orange County, 
one in Kings, and one in Westchester, where the successful 
candidate was Colden's grandson, while only one of the four 
members for the city kept his seat, a Presbyterian lawyer being 
among those retired. Indeed, "No Lawyer in the Assembly," 
became a party slogan. But, above all, Judge Livingston him- 
self, who desired to represent a constituency which had returned 
a member of his family for over forty years, saw early in the 
day that his case was hopeless and withdrew from the contest. 
Livingston's defeat had taken place in Dutchess County, and, 
significantly enough, another Livingston lost another seat in 
the same county at the same election. Now was the oppor- 
tunity to bring a just judge from abroad, urged the lieutenant- 
governor, as eagerly as if his recommendations had ever been 
regarded: "I think you will no longer find it inconvenient to 
countenance me," he said as good-naturedly as though he had 
never been culpably neglected. 
Certain changes in the ministry, however, now promised 



A Colonial Executive 337 

better things for Golden personally. The Earls of HaUfax 
and Hillsborough, after long retirement, were again in the gov- 
ernment, and whatever may be said of their statesmanship, 
these men in their relations with America had been marked 
by an approachableness, an ordinary humanity that distin- 
guished them from their sphinx-like colleagues. If a colonial 
asked a question of either, Hahfax, because he was business- 
like, and Hillsborough, possibly because he felt it was one 
thing he could do, would actually answer it. Intercourse with 
them was intercourse, and not endless repetition of the same 
questions on the one side and a vast silence on the other. If 
we accept Conway's letter of censure, written before all the 
facts of Golden 's conduct in November, 1765, were known, it 
took nearly three years to extract a word from the ministry that 
had stood sponsor for the Stamp Act, until Golden himself said 
that a refusal of his claims would be preferable. Even then 
Grenville's letter was perfunctory in character; but Golden had 
already written his first letter to Hillsborough, and little more 
than two months later, on the 9th of July, 1768, Hillsborough 
wrote Sir Henry Moore speaking of Golden in warm terms, 
and directing him to continue his efforts with the assembly in 
his behalf. But, though Moore did as he was told, he con- 
sidered himself under no obUgations to mention the reason, and 
Golden could not flatter himself that official approval of his 
career was the more patent to the average provincial. More- 
over, though Moore presented Golden's account to the new 
assembly, of which Golden had such high hopes at the time of 
their election, they voted to give the lieutenant-governor his 
unpaid salary only. Their reason for refusing to make good his 
losses. Golden heard, were two. It was said, almost in the words 
of "Freedom's" libellous letter, that as Golden had spiked the 
cannon on the batteries and the assembly had been obliged to 
pay to unspike them, they considered that they had already 



33^ Cadwallader Colden 

been at sufficient expense in connection with the matter; and 
it was whispered that if he had not said his losses were due to a 
mob, he would have fared better. To these arguments Colden 
repHed in turn that the assembly had preempted the charge of 
the batteries from the government, and that, even so, the govern- 
ment would have unspiked them in time had the assembly not 
been in such a hurry; while, as to calling the rioters a mob, he 
should have thought that less objectionable than calling them 
the gentlemen of the town. 

But the assembly were too absorbed in their own contentions 
to give heed to their own expressions. If the two parties knew 
distinctly what they themselves stood for, it is not a matter of 
record, and the session resolved itself into a struggle for leader- 
ship, whose rigours brought about a dissolution early in 1769. 
His opponents said that Sir Henry dissolved the assembly in 
order to give the Whigs a chance to recover themselves at the 
polls. His own reasons, however, were different. On the 
2ist of November Moore had reported to the assembly that, 
despite the vigilance of magistrates, a riot had taken place in 
town on the previous Monday. The house had at once resolved 
to pay the reward of ;^5o for the conviction of its pro- 
moters, which had been offered by Moore on his council's 
advice, and had thanked him for the opportunity to express 
their abhorrence of such methods. At the same time they 
could not forbear to state that they felt, in common with the 
rest of the colonies, "the distresses occasioned by the new duties 
imposed by the parUament of Great Britain, and the ill- policed 
state of the American Commerce." Moreover, on the 31st 
of December, roused by the action of Parliament in suspending 
the legislatures which had countenanced the non-importation 
agreement, the house entered on its minutes a series of resolu- 
tions affirming the rights of his Majesty's subjects in New York 
and asserting that taxation without representation would prove 



A Colonial Executive 339 

harmful to the British Empire as a whole, that all the subjects 
of Great Britain were equal, that the power of the colonial 
legislatures could not be abridged, and that the right of petition 
and correspondence with whole colonies or individuals was 
theirs. Accordingly, a committee was appointed to corre- 
spond with the colonies and with their EngUsh agents. But, 
though Moore's afhUations had been with the Whig leaders, 
he was not prepared to countenance anything so radical, and in 
the first week of the new year he addressed them on the sub- 
ject of their resolves. It gave him, he said, much pain to speak 
frankly, but he felt constrained to express his amazement at 
the opinions they had developed, some flatly repugnant to the 
laws of Great Britain, and others clearly intended to give offence 
where common prudence would have avoided it. For this 
reason he must declare them dissolved. At the same time he 
would put the best possible face on their conduct in his letters 
home. 

An exciting campaign followed. The Delanceys, now looked 
upon as leading the conservatives, had nevertheless championed 
the resolutions, one of the family indeed having proposed an 
even more aggressive declaration. On the other hand, Moore, 
whose closest intimates were the Livingstons with their Whig 
procUvities, had done all he could to quash them. Thus it 
was difficult to place their followers. But there was no question 
as to the vehemence of the contest. Through his private 
secretary, Phihp Livingston, Jr., Moore did all he could by 
threats and promises to put his friends where they wished to be. 
But their opponents were too strong for them. The older 
PhiHp Livingston, uncle of the secretary and speaker of the 
late assembly, was defeated, and his brother, Peter Van Brugh 
Livingston, as well. In fact, only six or seven Whigs found 
themselves members, and of these not more than three were 
men of reputation. Yet when the assembly met, John Cruger 



340 Cadwallader Colden 

being made speaker, Moore's request for the appointment of 
a London agent by act instead of by the assembly brought a 
prompt refusal for reasons which they said were improper to 
be given in an address. Both parties indeed now felt it so 
necessary to stand well with the people, who had learned their 
lesson for once and for all, that they could afford to differ little 
in their policy. 

The Whigs, however, were thoroughly alarmed, and, led by 
the triumvirate, bent every effort to regain their lost prestige. 
To do this they went further than they had ever gone before, 
and all pretence of reluctance to separate from England died 
out of their counsels. They ventured to pubHsh the most 
radical propositions, and six years before the Revolution, in 
the new weekly which they estabhshed as their party organ, 
offered their readers such visions as the following: "This coun- 
try will shortly become a great and flourishing empire, inde- 
pendent of Great Britain ; enjoying its civil and rehgious liberty, 
uncontaminated and deserted of all control from Bishops, the 
curse of curses, and from the subjection of all earthly Kings ; the 
corner stones of this government are already laid, the materials 
are preparing, and before six years roll about, the great, the 
noble, the stupendous future will be erected." ^ 

Nevertheless, the conservatives steadily gained, and when, on 
September 4, 1769, Sir Henry died after a short illness, he be- 
queathed to his successor a council which contained but one 
Presbyterian, and consequently radical, member, Wilham Smith, 
Jr. Once again summoned unexpectedly to the chief command 
of the province, Colden could now feel that the responsibihty 
was divided and that he was not the sole support of the crown. 
This was fortunate, for he faced a situation of more than ordi- 
nary difficulty. In the spring of 1767 Parliament had passed a 
bill taxing a variety of articles on their importation into the 

^ The American Whig, 1769. 



A Colonial Executive 341 

colonies, while a year later it was determined that the regulars, 
sent over partly to protect, partly to coerce, should be subsisted 
by the towns through which they passed or in which they were 
posted. Clearly enough, every argument that had been used 
to prove the tyranny of the Stamp Act applied with equal force 
to the first of these measures, and there were bold spirits who 
dreamed straightway of an intercolonial agreement by which 
not one of the taxable articles should be received in any colony. 
But New York, though she had her moments of enthusiasm, 
was something too cosmopoHtan, too hard-headed, too bal- 
anced, dehberately to sustain them. Whatever her demagogues 
might say she had not yet made up her mind what to do, and its 
making depended on many things. 

In the first place, Golden soon learned that the last assembly 
had passed a bill providing for the issue of £120,000 in 
bills of credit on loan ; that it was most popular with every one ; 
that it had been sent over in the spring for the royal judgment ; 
and that a similar measure would be proposed at the coming 
session. For this reason he delayed caUing the members in the 
hope of hearing from the ministry. But when, having waited 
as long as possible, he issued the summons and a bill of the ex- 
pected nature was brought in, he decided, after a careful exami- 
nation, that it was quite free from objectionable features. It 
seemed to him bound to increase the importation of British 
manufactures, and while there was no suspending clause, as the 
instructions directed there should be, the date fixed for its effect- 
iveness would accomphsh the same end. Hence, when he found 
that there was a strong feeUng against suspending clauses, and 
that this was largely due to the fact that bills with such clauses 
were so long in emerging from the gloom of the Board of Trade's 
office, he forebore to urge one and intimated that he would pass 
the bill as it stood. ^ In doing this he merely followed the 
> Golden to Hillsborough, Letter Books, II, 187-189. 



342 Cadwallader Colden 

precedent set by Sir Henry, who had passed the bill despite the 
late act of Parliament directed against colonial currency, and who 
had at the same time sent home a strong representation of the 
need for such an issue. Colden had at least the right to hope 
that this had had some effect. His concession was followed by 
the passage of a bill for provisioning the regulars, by which 
the sum of £1000 was voted from the treasury and ;^iooo 
from the proceeds of the new bills. The assembly had not 
been generous, but Colden in writing home called attention 
to the fact that, even in England, the quartering of the sol- 
diery was an unpopular measure.^ Indeed, while he was as 
little disposed to consider the people the source of power as ever 
he had been, a certain degree of toleration, of regard for ex- 
pediency, of conciUation, what you will, was tingeing his letters 
and speeches. 

The revolutionary party, however, thought his policy sus- 
ceptible of another explanation. The adoption by the house of 
the famous resolutions of the Virginia House of Burgesses did 
not blind the watchful Sons of Liberty to their recognition of the 
quartering act. Two days after the assembly had agreed to pass 
the provisioning bill, the speaker laid before the house a pamphlet 
addressed "To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony 
of New York." ^ Having accused the assembly of indifference 
to the liberties of the people of the continent as well as to the 
property of the people of New York, its author went on to say 
that some baleful influence must be at work. Indeed, he af- 
firmed that the guilt and confusion of the supporters of the bill 
during the debate on its passage proved this. The source of 
the influence was equally clear. Mr. Colden, realizing that the 
ministry would expect him to dissolve the assembly if they re- 

' Ibid., II, 199-202. 

^ The text of this pamphlet is given in the Appendix to the first volume 
of Jones's History, p. 426. 



A Colonial Executive 343 

fused to consider the soldiers, fearing that his children might 
be deprived of their offices if the ministry were disappointed, 
yet knowing that a dissolution would mean no salary for him, 
had flattered the members into thinking that the currency bill 
would be approved when he knew that there was no possibiUty 
of such a thing. The Delanceys, now once more in the ascend- 
ant, were equally opposed to a dissolution ; and for this reason, 
notwithstanding past bitternesses, had joined hands with Golden. 
Finally, the new coahtion had been helped by the wishes of the 
assemblymen themselves, who naturally desired to stay where 
they were and not risk an election. But the bill had been passed 
by a majority of but one. There was therefore still hope that 
New York would not be disgraced in the eyes of Boston and 
Charlestown. Let every reading patriot, urged the pamphlet, 
meet in the Fields on a certain day and thence go in a body to 
their respective representatives. These were to be ordered to 
join the minority, and if they refused, a committee was to be 
appointed to correspond with the colonies, with friends of the 
cause in England, and with the pubHc prints. 

This paper was voted. Colonel Schuyler alone dissenting, to 
be "a false, seditious and infamous Ubel," while it was unani- 
mously decided that it was an anarchistic reflection on the 
dignity of the assembly, and that the Heutenant-governor 
should be humbly addressed to ofifer £\oo for the discovery 
of its sponsors. But its sentiments were not unique. It had 
scarcely been disposed of when another paper signed "Legion," 
and calling another meeting in the Fields, "to avert the dis- 
astrous consequences of the late base and inglorious conduct 
of the General Assembly," was presented by Captain Delancey 
and voted "an infamous libel," while the author was declared 
guilty of high misdemeanour and ;^5o was offered for his 
discovery. Moreover, when it had been found out who it was 
that had endeavoured to arouse his countrymen to their danger. 



344 Cadwallader Colden 

the results of his prosecution were on the whole satisfactory. 
It seemed that he was a certain Alexander McDougal/ the son 
of a Scotch milkman, who had started his career by making the 
daily rounds with his father's cans. Later, his father and others 
having broken with the Presbyterian meeting and set up one of 
their own, he had acted as clerk while his father was pastor. 
Later still, he made several voyages before the mast, became 
the master first of a small ship and then of a privateer, and finally 
married a St. Croix lady of some wealth and set himself up in 
trade in New York. Despite his comfortable circumstances, 
however, when he was arrested on Horsmanden's warrant, he 
refused to give bail and at once became the idol of the town. 
He was called a second Wilkes ; and borrowing an incident from 
his prototype, the papers made the most of the already over- 
worked number forty-five. It was said that forty-five gentlemen 
had dined with him, forty- five ladies breakfasted with him, forty- 
five tradesmen supped with him, fojty-five women taken tea 
with him. He was said to have received forty-five pounds of 
beef from Thomas Smith, forty-five bottles of Madeira from 
Peter R. Livingston, forty- five bottles of ale from Scotch traders, 
forty- five pounds of candles from the two Presbyterian parsons, 
and so on. Finally, the repetition growing tiresome, ninety- 
three, the number of members of the Massachusetts General 
Court who had refused to rescind a vote on Lord Hillsborough's 
order, was substituted, and the tale was told over once more 
with renewed zest. 

Meanwhile, everything had been done to induce the sheriff 
to pack the coming grand jury .a But he was proof against both 
bribes and threats and selected twelve men highly satisfactory 
to the conservatives. Then an attempt was made to forestall 
the presentation of the libel. WilUam Smith offered the lieuten- 

* Jones's " History of New York," etc., I, 24-28. ^ Ibid., I, 28-32. 



A Colonial Executive 



345 



ant-governor's account of his conduct long since disposed of; 
John Morin Scott, another old pamphlet ; Isaac Sears, a budget 
of old newspapers; and William Livingston, the "History of 
the Military operations in the province of New York," pubHshed 
in 1758, and of which he himself was later discovered to be the 
author. The jury would have none of them, but when the pam- 
phlet was at length presented, they found a bill and McDougal 
was indicted. However, before his trial came on, the journey- 
man printer, who had acted as informer, was hounded first out of 
town and then out of America, while his master, James Parker, 
was found dead in his bed one morning, not without suspi- 
cions of foul play. Thus left without witnesses, the prose- 
cution was obhged to slacken its efiforts and McDougal 
obtained his discharge. But he had been clearly disapproved 
by the best element in the province and Golden felt 
satisfied. 

Indeed, the fact that nearly every one now thought that Great 
Britain was in the wrong and must be shown her mistake in- 
spired a disposition to the concession of immaterial points in all 
but the most radical. New York seemed hanging in the bal- 
ance. The pamphlet just considered and others like it were to 
be seen at every street corner ; the Sons of Liberty held frequent 
popular meetings ; there was much bad feeling between the peo- 
ple and the soldiers, which had resulted in several skirmishes ; 
while a dangerous encounter had only been prevented by the 
united force of the lieutenant-governor, the magistrates, and the 
most public-spirited inhabitants. On the other hand. Golden 
had been extremely gratified by a notable attendance on the 
usual New Year's Day reception at the governor's mansion; 
he had evidence that the meetings were not in reahty as well 
attended as it was desired; he knew that when Massachusetts 
had proposed that New York join in an agreement to import 
no British goods until Parliament should remove all the duties 



34^ Cadwallader Colden 

it had laid, the proposition had found no seconder at the meeting 
of the Sons, where it was presented. 

Influenced, therefore, by a desire to turn the undecided state 
of the community in the right direction, Colden signed all bills 
presented him, their number including an apparently conserva- 
tive proposition to debar judges from the assembly. On the 
whole he was pleased with the results of his administration, and he 
only regretted that the end was probably near. For, though he 
had intimated that its prolongation would be considered a re- 
ward for his past services. Lord Dunmore had been appointed 
his successor almost on the news of Sir Henry's death. But his 
lordship apparently was in no hurry, and meanwhile Colden was 
horrified to hear that his Majesty disapproved his passage of the 
paper money bill, which was disallowed, and of the bill exclud- 
ing judges from the assembly as well. When his Majesty was 
considering one money bill, it seemed, his representative had 
no right to pass another of a hke character. The appositeness 
of Colden 's reply that that was the very reason he had done so 
was probably lost on his superiors. Wherein lay the difficulty 
of the other bill, Colden could not imagine. No judge was al- 
lowed to sit in the Commons ; the assembly had already tried to 
keep Judge Livingston from his seat ; it was against all consti- 
tutional theory that judiciary and legislature should be com- 
bined. How could any one have dreamed that the passage of 
such a bill could injure prerogative ? ^ 

But the government had spoken. The provision for quarter- 
ing the soldiers was nulUfied, the people were antagonized, a 
devoted old servant feared to meet his death under the shadow 
of official disapproval.^ Surely, whatever may have been the 
actual causes of the American Revolution, such a clumsy sys- 
tem of legislation as this could not have endured long in any case. 
For a government to treat the legislation of an important colony 

» Colden Letter Books, II, 216-219. * Ihid., II, 221-224. 



A Colonial Executive 347 

like casual letters, to be answered when inclination served, 
sometimes at once, sometimes not for weeks or even months, 
and when it did take a bill into consideration absolutely to 
disregard at a critical moment the judgment of one who had 
never erred by concessions to the people, was maladministration 
worse confounded and sure to meet its deserts. 

But, though Golden said all he could, the disqualifying bill 
was also disallowed, while he likewise fell under condemnation 
because he had encouraged an intercolonial meet for discussing 
Indian trade regulations, a subject which had interested him 
so long. The English government a few months earher had 
decided to put Indian affairs in the hands of the colonial legis- 
latures, and before Moore's death the New York legislature 
had decided to leave the matter of Indian trade to Albany. 
This Golden had considered bad pohcy, as it meant that the 
traders, always a shifty set, were to be allowed to regulate them- 
selves. When, therefore, the assembly now suggested a meeting 
of commissioners at New York instead. Golden, though it will 
be remembered that he had denounced the Stamp Act as illegal, 
warmly seconded the proposition and himself wrote to the vari- 
ous governments. As a matter of fact the meeting, owing to 
various difficuhies, never took place, but the delegates from 
Virginia, one of whom was the celebrated Patrick Henry, 
actually arrived and were advised by Golden to make the best 
of the situation, and consulting with the New York delegates, 
to formulate certain rules which might prove satisfactory to 
the remaining colonies. 

It is interesting to note that his approval was denounced by 
the government for the same reason that Golden had denounced 
the Stamp Act Gongress, namely, because it would tend to en- 
courage a union of the colonies for mutual benefit. Gircum- 
stances were undoubtedly broadening Golden's singularly 
vigorous intellect as he studied the conflicting forces which still 



348 Cadwallader Colden 

held the balance nearly true. The Sons of Liberty still dis- 
cussed melodramatic possibiUties ; the newspapers still made 
their appeal to a wider audience ; and a committee of merchants 
went down to Philadelphia to discuss the still undecided ques- 
tion, to import or not to import. Parhament had rescinded the 
duties on very article except tea, and the Philadelphians had at 
first proposed to import everything with the same exception ; but 
a gentleman answering to the description of Franklin influenced 
them to decide to import nothing until Parliament had rescinded 
all duties, and the New York gentlemen returned as doubtful as 
they had left. Still a census taken of the merchandizing inhabit- 
ants returned 1180 willing to import as against 300 unwilling, 
and at the same time Colden 's patriotic soul was gladdened by 
the culminating incident of the Stamp Act controversy. In their 
enthusiasm over its repeal, New York had ordered an equestrian 
gilt statue of George III. It had duly arrived, and one August 
day in 1770 it was unveiled on its pedestal in BowHng Green in 
the presence of councillors, assemblymen, magistrates, clergy, 
and inhabitants generally. A band played on the ramparts, 
thirty-two pieces of cannon were discharged, the crowd drank 
health and long Hfe to George III, and then, while the spectators 
shouted themselves hoarse, the general of the army, his officers, 
and men marched from the fort and around the statue. Just 
before the arrival of Lord Dunmore, moreover, the election of 
city officials was a decisive victory for the government party, and 
Colden 's last letter happily recorded that the councillors and, 
with one exception, the city members of the assembly had op- 
posed non-importation.^ 

VIII 

At last Lord Dunmore arrived and Colden retired to Spring 
Hill with considerably more distinction than when he had given 

» Colden Letter Books, II, 229. 



A Colonial Executive 349 

way to Moore. Before he left, fifty-six of the principal merchants 
in town presented their thanks in a body, as did also the ministers, 
churchwardens, vestry, and many members of the estabhshed 
church, while he was told that other addresses were only pre- 
vented by his hasty departure. 

Eighty-two years of age, fifty of which had been spent in the 
service of the crown ; it would have seemed that Golden had 
fought his last fight and that his closing years would be honoured 
by the king. Yet he had scarcely reached Flushing when he 
received a letter from Hillsborough through Lord Dunmore's 
private secretary, Captain Foy, in which his lordship said that 
it was the royal pleasure that a moiety of the perquisites and 
emoluments of government received between the date of Dun- 
more's commission and his arrival should be accounted for and 
paid to Dunmore.^ Golden was aghast. The only similar 
demand in all his long experience had been made by Golonel 
Gosby on Rip Van Dam, and though Gosby had been armed 
with a similar order and had brought suit to recover, he had 
failed to get a penny. Surely, after forty years, an order then con- 
sidered indefensible was not to be revived in his despite ! Some- 
thing of this he managed to say to Gaptain Foy, who only looked 
calmly neutral and asked for an answer to his lordship. Gol- 
den said he would give one in person in the morning. But all 
attempts to draw Dunmore into discussion failed. He would 
only say that the king had a right to do as he had, and that he 
himself considered it his duty to prosecute. Thus frankly met. 
Golden wrote to Hillsborough ; but even while he was writing, he 
heard that suit was entered against him by Lord Dunmore in 
the Court of Chancery in the name of the king. This meant 
that whatever the resuh, it would not cost Dunmore a penny ; 
while it meant also that the result was assured beforehand, for 
Dunmore himself was chancellor. Golden had, according to 

» Colden LeUer Books, II, 230-329. 



350 Cadwallader C olden 

his own statement, made excellent financial use of his last 
administration, and the thought that he had been working for 
a stranger was distressing enough ; but he was more disturbed 
at the thought of meeting such a mark of royal approval at 
the very end of his career. Yet while he thought it unjust 
and had no intention of submission, Dunmore was the object 
of his resentment rather than the government, whose thought- 
less indifference even to his rights seems never to have angered 
him. 

Engaging counsel and agents in England, as well as an attor- 
ney in New York, he began to prepare his case. The king's 
demand was based on an order of Wilham III, issued in 
1698, and stating that in case of the death or absence of the 
governor-in-chief, the acting executive should receive half of 
the governor's salary, perquisites, and emoluments; that the 
governor-in-chief, appointed or to be appointed, should lay no 
claim to this moiety before he reached America or during any 
absence therefrom, and that his Majesty reserve to himself 
the other half of the said salary accruing between the date of 
the governor's commission and his arrival. This declaration, the 
chancery bill maintained, had been incorporated by the instruc- 
tions ever since, and therefore Colden, from the time of Moore's 
death on, was entitled to but half of his receipts, the king being 
entitled to the other half from the time of Lord Dunmore 's 
commission. Who was entitled to it for the few months not 
mentioned remained untold, and with equal inconsequence it 
was announced as the purpose of the bill that Colden should 
account for all his receipts from the date of Dunmore 's com- 
mission, January 2, 1770, to his arrival on October i8th, and 
resign one-half of them. 

Colden, as he wrote to his New York counsel, would gladly 
have answered this on its merits, secure in the fact that his 
salary had been granted him personally, and that perquisites, 



A Colonial Executive 351 

being voluntary contributions for services done, belong to the 
person who does the service. Therefore his perquisites were 
his private property, and not in the disposition of the king. 
But the nature of the case obHged him to plead and demur to 
the court itself. His counsel, James Duane, thought this line 
of defence bad policy, owing to Colden's unfortunate circum- 
stances, and though Golden begged at least to be allowed to ask 
his lordship on his honour if he were not an interested party, 
the demurrer was free from personal features. 

The king's demand was so unjust, the premises on which it 
was founded so absurd, that it had been easy to find nearly a 
dozen reasons why it was without any justification whatever. 
In the first place, the declaration, which was in itself but a tem- 
porary order of King WilUam's, had never been incorporated 
in the instructions. According to these, in case of a governor's 
absence, his representative was to share his emoluments, but 
nothing had ever been said about them in case of his death, or 
about the right of the king to any part of them. Custom had 
interpreted this to mean that as a matter of course the surviving 
partner, as it were, should take all. Again, the bill required 
an account of all receipts between the death of Sir Henry and 
the arrival of Dunmore, whereas it claimed for his Majesty a 
moiety of such only as had accrued since the date of the latter's 
commission, while the declaration of King William reserved 
half of the salary alone. The defendant also pointed out that 
by the bill the king authorized no one to sue for his moiety or to 
receipt for the same, and that without any authenticated copy 
of the declaration it was impossible to know whether it was 
given correctly. If it was, conditions had changed so as to 
make it no longer practicable. In 1698 the revenue of the 
province was granted to the king in a lump sum, and he could 
do with it as he wished. At this period each salary was granted 
by name, and the king's only connection therewith was through 



352 Cadwallader C olden 

the warrants of the governor. In conclusion, the defendant re- 
quested further proof of his obligations than an unauthenticated 
copy of a letter from Lord Hillsborough, while he also asked 
whether, if authentic, it was a legal grant or disposal by his 
Majesty of his interest in the salary or a legal appointment of 
Dunmore as his trustee, and if either, whether the proper court 
had been selected for its recovery. At all events, he prayed the 
dismissal of the suit with reasonable costs. 

Permission was given to argue in support of this demurrer 
on December 3d, from which date, owing to the death of Mr. 
Duane's eldest son, the hearing was postponed until the loth. 
On that day, according to Dunmore's proposition, the court 
was to sit in the City Hall. But at the last moment he changed 
its location to his own house, where, despite this change and an 
hour's delay due to a belated conference between the governor 
and his counsel, William Smith, a large number of townspeople 
heard Mr. Duane's argument, Duane's plea was long and 
satisfactory. It could not very well have been otherwise, for he 
was skilful and the facts were on his side. On the 7th of Feb- 
ruary, Smith replied for the king and was answered by Duane 
so pithily that every one who heard him pronounced him vic- 
torious at every point, though no one dreamed of his ultimate 
success. One of his Unes of reasoning was this: The king 
could do no wrong. No one living knew exactly what Wilham 
meant when he gave his verbal order seventy years before, nor 
to what extent that order had been prompted by the king's 
ministers. The king, therefore, had no justification for pre- 
empting the property of a subject, and it happened that the 
salary in question had been granted to Lieutenant-Governor 
Golden direct, and was not his merely by inheritance from Moore. 

Dunmore was as thick-headed a Briton as ever lived, but he 
disliked being called unfair, and he knew such a charge to be 
probable, as he had every intention of giving a verdict in favour 



A Colonial Executive 



353 



of himself. Accordingly, merely to strengthen his cause, he de- 
cided to ask the justices of the Supreme Court for their opinion. 
These, however, declared the defendant's points well taken. 
Dunmore, discomfited and amazed, must have rejoiced that the 
ofifer of the government of Virginia provided him a possible way 
of escape from a situation that might become disagreeable. 
His interest thus comfortably divided, he despatched the papers 
home with the result that the case was dropped as suddenly as 
it had been opened. Indeed, Hillsborough actually asked Col- 
den why he had not told him his wishes concerning his salary ! 
It was but another instance of how they managed things 
then. 

Not unnaturally Dunmore decided to go to Virginia, but he 
was succeeded directly by William Tryon, and it was not until 
April, 1774, when Tryon returned home on leave of absence, 
that the responsibihty of government again came to Colden. 
By that time forces and influences were swirling from colony to 
colony, that no power, probably, could have stopped. By that 
time New York, like the rest of the colonies, had a revolutionary 
committee, and was watching as keenly as they for every pound 
of tea that might find its way to her ports. A long-expected 
ship, with a large consignment from India, arrived at the Hook 
shortly after Tryon 's departure, and here its captain heard news 
that caused him indefinitely to postpone his trip up the Narrows ; 
a small sloop with Dutch tea and other commodities on board 
was seized quietly at noon by a custom house officer, who thus 
forestalled the people; and the cargo of a third ship was de- 
stroyed by a mob whose rage was pointed by the fact that its 
captain had been the first to refuse to receive any tea on board 
his vessel, and had therefore received pubHc thanks the pre- 
ceding autumn. Now a parade celebrated his enforced de- 
parture from town. Yet even at this eleventh hour, when one 
might have thought the English government too busy with its 



254 Cadwallader Colden 

opponents not to need all its friends, Colden received word that 
Mr. Banyer, for long years the clerk of the council and a pubUc 
official of the utmost tact, skill, and loyalty, was dismissed; 
there were intimations that, possibly on account of age, he him- 
self was to be replaced even as lieutenant-governor ; while in his 
efforts to unravel the tangle of grants near the New Hampshire 
line he was constantly baffled by the demands made for govern- 
ment placemen, or by advice from Enghsh officials who knew 
nothing about the situation. It was even said, apparently on 
authority, that those who had preempted grants were receiving 
encouragement from the ministry, and Secretary Pownall lent 
colour to this report by suggesting that the matter be settled by 
commissioners from either province. But Colden, who consid- 
ered that New York had never overstepped her rights, while 
New Hampshire had been regardless of even a sense of decency 
in her encroachments, promptly refused to consider such an 
apparent recognition of her good faith. ^ 

About this time arrived that attempt to repress the irrepres- 
sible, known as the Boston Port Act, and in an astonishingly short 
time an account of it was in every American newspaper and its 
discussion on every American tongue. An invitation was issued 
to all voters in New York City to meet at the Exchange, to elect 
a committee of correspondence, and there many of its most 
valuable citizens were seen for the first time at a meeting called 
for forming plans of organized resistance to the poUcies of 
George III and his ministers. That their poUcy was ill-con- 
sidered and unendurable these conservative burghers had felt 
as keenly as the political demagogues who had so long been 
prominent in opposition. At the same time they had so little 
sympathy with mere agitation, their point of view was so dif- 
ferent from that of a typical Son of Liberty, that they had stayed 
away until a sense of duty and a hope that they might prevent 

1 Colden Letter Books, II, 342. 



A Colonial Executive 355 

imprudent measures drew them from their comfortable neu- 
trality. 

The result was satisfactory. The existing committee was 
dissolved, and a committee of fifty-one, representing the best 
elements in town, was elected in their place ; Scott, McDougal, 
and Sears being among those discredited. There were, of course, 
radical members in the new committee, but, as was soon evi- 
dent, the conservatives had the upper hand. The Boston letters 
urging a refusal to import until the Port Act was repealed re- 
ceived a discouraging reply; Philadelphia's request for a day 
of fasting and prayer was Ukewise evaded ; while the extreme 
measures proposed by the radical members were uniformly 
disapproved. Golden, it is true, was somewhat disappointed 
when the committee wrote to all the counties asking the appoint- 
ment of committees of correspondence, and when they so easily 
decided to do all they could to make the forthcoming Continental 
Congress, to be held at Philadelphia, a success. On the other 
hand, he was reassured by the good judgment of the committee, 
as shown in the selection of delegates. The majority of the five 
named were men whose opinions and character assured the 
Loyalists that they would be a bulwark for all they held 
dear, and all classes joined in their election. There seemed 
ground for the hope of a firm union with England on consti- 
tutional principles. "If the delegates pursue only prudent and 
conciliating measures," Colden wrote, "the meeting, though 
illegal, may do good." There were, he added, all through the 
province people whose greatest wish was harmony, and who were 
assured that, could it be thought consistent with the wisdom of 
ParUament to lay aside the right of taxation, the assembhes, 
instead, granting to the crowTi a sufficient and permanent sup- 
port of government, this might be attained and the dependence 
of the colonies be assured.* 

» Colden Letter Books, II, 342. 



356 Cadwallader C olden 

Colden's growing sense of tolerance was due in no sense to 
failing powers. For many years republican sentiment in New 
York had been a matter of party, of faction; and Golden felt 
it was so still. He was convinced that the next general election 
was a cause of more anxiety to many poHticians than the 
decision of ParUament on the Port Act ; he was urging the en- 
couragement of King's College as a seminary for the propaga- 
tion of loyalty, as Yale and Princeton were of sedition; but 
when he saw men whom he could trust take up the problem of 
the relations between England and America, he was not re- 
strained by narrow prejudice from wishing them well, even 
though they were associated with those he so disapproved. 

But while he looked to the Congress in hope, his attention was 
demanded by more insistent matters. In the county of Char- 
lotte were the holdings which, granted originally and with little 
justification by the governor of New Hampshire, had been de- 
clared out of his jurisdiction by the order in council making the 
Connecticut River the eastern boundary of New York. Indeed, 
a great part of the land had been granted by New York under 
the proclamation of 1763. But, though New Hampshire's 
governor no longer assumed jurisdiction west of the Connecti- 
cut, the holders of the spurious patents refused to consider 
themselves under the laws of New York, and threatened all 
those who did so, as well as the magistrates themselves. Finally, 
they had gone the length of erecting a two-story blockhouse 
at Otter Creek and another on the Onion River, from which 
strongholds they defied the officers of the law. Indeed, they set 
up officers and courts of their own and assumed an attitude so 
menacing that the sober-minded inhabitants and the magis- 
trates appealed to the governor and council. The council 
unanimously advised that a military force be sent up for the 
reduction of the miscreants, and Colden wrote to Gage asking 
his cooperation. It was an excellent opportunity, he urged, to 



A Colonial Executive 357 

show how necessary the regulars could be. But Gage refused, 
because some other general had refused a like request, and the 
government had approved his refusal. 

The winter setting in at this point, the Charlotte County 
revolution became for a time a foreign episode. But early in the 
spring of 1775 came news that the Bennington rioters, as the 
malcontents were called, had seized the justice of the peace, tried 
him, and sentenced him to two hundred lashes and ultimate 
banishment. The excitement, moreover, had spread to Cum- 
berland County, south of Charlotte, and adjoining both New 
Hampshire and Massachusetts. Here the rioters, having taken 
possession of the court-house just before term time, a scrimmage 
followed, and the sheriff and his assistants making use of their 
guns, one rioter was killed and several wounded. In conse- 
quence the court-house was abandoned and the courts were 
opened. But the next day reenforcements for the outlaws ar- 
riving from Massachusetts, they took the judge, the sheriff, the 
clerk of the court, and several others prisoners, putting them 
in the county jail, whence they were transferred to that of 
Northampton, Massachusetts. 

As in Charlotte, the rioters were supposed to be fighting for 
their homesteads, but there was a strong political element in 
their purposes. The government messenger, who had been 
sent up from New York for exact information, returned saying 
that if he had crossed the border of the county he would have 
been surely put to death ; while the representatives of the county 
in the assembly, who had there voted with the conservatives, 
were warned by their famihes on no account to dare venture 
home. Colden insisted also that the New Hampshire patentees, 
as well as those of New York, were living in undisturbed pos- 
session of their titles, and that if the debts of the fighters were 
paid there would not be a sixpence left among them. Colderi, 
moreover, laid the assembly's refusal to give him more 



358 Cadwallader C olden 

than £1000 for the restoration of order to the influence of 
the extreme Whigs, who found wilhng hearers in the close- 
fisted country members. A thousand pounds would not go far 
toward the suppression of the insurrection, and Gage was ap- 
pealed to again, when, after considerable delay, he sent some 
arms and ammunition to Colden for the use of the well-disposed 
Cumberlanders. But he was too late. The battle of Lexington 
had been fought, the whole country was slowly reaUzing that 
it was in a state of war, and the Uttle rebelUon was soon lost 
in the Revolution. 

Meanwhile, Colden had been watching New York with eager 
interest as she tried to solve her problems. Notwithstanding 
the high hopes of the loyahsts, their counsels had not prevailed 
at the Philadelphia congress. That body had found a set of 
resolutions which had emanated from Suffolk County, Massa- 
chusetts, and which practically declared war against Great 
Britain, unless she mended her ways right speedily, more to its 
taste than halfway measures. For instance, the elaborate plan 
for a constitutional union offered by Mr. Duane of New York 
and Mr. Galloway, the Philadelphia loyaUst, though debated, 
was not even entered on the minutes. But these resolves had 
to do with the future. It was the non-importation agreement 
of the congress with which the colonies must deal at once. 
Most of them, it was certain, would support it ; but no one knew 
what the great province of New York would decide to do, and 
the odds seemed fairly even as the coming of the assembly was 
breathlessly awaited. The congressional delegates had, after 
all, not been fairly representative. Several counties had re- 
fused to participate, either by the election of delegates or the 
adoption of resolutions, and others had done so but feebly. In 
Queens, Colden 's summer home, not six persons had appeared 
at the meeting called for the purpose, while a gentleman who 
had been present told Colden that the election in Orange had 



A Colonial Executive 350 

been left to less than twenty among three thousand freeholders. 
New York, moreover, was pubUshing more pro-administration 
pamphlets than all the other colonies put together, while the 
Whig propaganda, which Golden feared most, consisted in the 
pubUcation of reprints of English speeches, both in and out of 
Parliament. Golden was also encouraged by another circum- 
stance. It being known that certain New York merchants had 
received orders for supplying the army at Boston, a public 
meeting was called, and, though the attendance was neither 
large nor of good quaUty, it was voted to send a committee to 
urge the merchants to provide neither the army nor the trans- 
ports. This interference was much resented, and not alone by 
the merchants; the committee of fifty-one in turn calling a 
public meeting, at which it was declared that the action of the 
previous gathering had been without public authority. 

This, to be sure, happened before the news of the action of 
Congress had been received, the arrival of which, about the 
2d of November, resulted immediately in the dissolution of 
the committee of fifty-one, and the choice of another to exe- 
cute the new measures. As usual, the people were summoned 
by handbills ; but for some reason only thirty or forty attended, 
and the committee of sixty nominated by their predecessors was 
promptly chosen. Among these Golden was surprised to see 
the names of several well-known conservatives, but he soon 
found that they had accepted a nomination merely in the hope 
of preventing the uncurbed leadership of the radicals. "The 
spirit of mobbing" was abroad, and it was easy at any time for a 
few people to collect a crowd ready to do anything that they 
were told. 

Almost immediately also it became evident that New York 
was going to subscribe to the non-importation agreement, the 
only difficulty seeming to be the proper status of the smuggler, 
who was pursuing his chosen occupation as merrily as ever. 



360 Cadwallader Colden 

This contraband trade was largely with the Dutch, and vessels 
from Holland and St. Eustatius in large numbers still anchored 
in the lower part of the numerous bays and creeks in the vicinity 
of New York. Thence they would send their goods to the town 
in the small boats always to be hired. Sometimes these were 
seized and sold at auction, but at a price so low that their 
owners could easily buy them back ; and Colden thought that 
if all the boats thus taken and not bringing a certain price were 
destroyed, their owners would be less wiUing to serve the mer- 
chants. But what he chiefly wanted was two or three coasting 
vessels. The Custom House did not own a single boat, and its 
work was consequently greatly handicapped. Colden 's grand- 
son, however, who had lately been made surveyor and searcher, 
had succeeded in seizing several vessels, and had been so 
diligent that he had been given to understand that a 
little negligence would be worth ;;^i5oo a year to him. It 
therefore seemed to Colden that if the government, after hiring 
the desired vessels, promised the officers and men a percentage 
of their seizures besides their pay, the merchants could scarcely 
afford to go higher. But the question with the patriots was, 
whether the smugglers should be considered importers. For 
example, no tea was to be landed after December ist; yet the 
smugglers were expecting large quantities of Dutch tea, and 
insisted that it should be exempt. Others said the fair traders 
should not be the only sufferers, and the whole subject was 
debated with an openness shocking to Colden. 

It was now also necessary for the lieutenant-governor, accord- 
ing to the royal orders, to see that no arms or ammunition were 
admitted into the colony unless under government Ucense. 
Shortly after these commands arrived, the collector discovered 
ten chests of arms, three boxes of lead, and one barrel of powder 
on a vessel bound for Rhode Island, all of which had lately been 
shipped from London as hardware. Attempts were made to 



A Colonial Executive 361 

bully Mr. Elliott into letting it alone, but, supported by Golden, 
he held firm, and the principal townsmen and merchants waited 
on him in a body to testify their approval. Still, when the 
assembly was at last on the point of meeting. Golden could only 
say that a good majority of the most respectable were yet for 
harmony. But the colonies around them were electing pro- 
vincial congresses, and Golden endeavoured to prepare the 
Secretary of State for the worst, by reminding him that 
"enthusiasm is very contagious and when backed by art 
irresistible." 

The assembly, summoned for January 10, 1775, did not make 
a quorum until January 13th, and two days after they ten- 
dered an address highly satisfactory to Golden, for while de- 
ploring the government's poUcy and insisting on the necessity 
of a change, it was full of loyalty to the absent governor, Great 
Britain, and the king. Twelve members still being absent, 
the house voted to defer the consideration of the proceedings of 
Gongress until February 5th. However, on January 29th, a few 
more Whigs having straggled in, it was moved to take those pro- 
ceedings into consideration, and, after a hot debate, the motion 
was defeated by a vote of eleven to ten. Two weeks later a 
motion to return the thanks of the house to the congressional 
delegates was defeated by a vote of sixteen to nine, and still 
later another motion to take the sense of the house in regard to 
the appointment of delegates to the next Gontinental Gongress, 
to be held in May, was defeated seventeen to nine.* When it is 
remembered that every other assembly that had met since the 
closing of Gongress had approved its measures, it must be con- 
ceded at least that the assembly of New York had the courage 
of its convictions. They next approved the work of the com- 
mittee which, having reported according to order on the griev- 
ances of the colonies, had been ordered to make a humble, firm, 
* Jones's " History of New York," I, 36. 



362 Cadwallader Colden 

dutiful, and loyal petition to the throne, a memorial to the Lords, 
and a representation and remonstrance to the Commons of 
Great Britain, in all of which Colden witnessed that there was 
not an immoderate or disrespectful Une. Then, Colden having 
adjourned them until June, "Lord Livingston," Colonel 
Schuyler, and others of the more radical members hurried off to 
secure the popular election of delegates that the assembly had 
refused. 

Meanwhile, a ship arriving from Glasgow, though allowed 
to enter the dock, was at once carried ofif to the watering-place, 
where a sloop with armed men on board stood guard to prevent 
her coming up to the town. With the advice of the council, 
Colden ordered Captain Montague, of his Majesty's sloop 
King-fisher, then in the harbour, to see that no damage was done 
the ship, and to give his master any assistance he might ask. 
But, much to the spirited old man's disgust, the captain was "a 
stupid body," who would neither make a complaint nor ask 
assistance, and the consignees were irresolute enough to see 
their goods sail off without demanding them. The government, 
therefore, could interfere to no good purpose. Another ship 
from Jamaica received like treatment, and Colden found no 
other explanation for conduct at such variance with the assem- 
bly's action than the remembrance of the repeal of the Stamp 
Act. Violent proceedings had forced one repeal, why should 
they not again have that effect ? 

But, notwithstanding her agreement in practical policy with 
the other colonies, New York was very unpopular, and the 
object of many threats from her more ardent neighbours. The 
Southern colonies, for instance, sent word that they were going 
to Massachusetts by way of New York, and though Colden 
judged this to be mere bravado, he thought the hundred pri- 
vates left after the departure of the army for Boston a small 
garrison for such an important town, and suggested that a 



A Colonial Executive 363 

large sloop be sent to guard the harbour. From his point of 
view, he was right. Not the least of the terrors before the 
province that had dared be unique was the prospect of losing 
all debts due from the other colonies. Naturally, those who 
disapproved of the assembly's policy anyway were rendered 
still more disgusted by the prospect of having to suffer the con- 
sequences. The city was soon in a whirl of riots. The idea 
of the colonists fighting the king's troops was so mad, Golden 
was still convinced, that it could scarcely be taken seriously; 
yet that was no reason for improper neglect, and every day now 
offered him additional proofs that the irresolute magistrates 
and the hundred privates were no match for the rioters. 

Some time before, the New York City loyalists had publicly 
declared against any further cooperation with the Continental 
Congress, but when it was announced that a meeting for the 
election of deputies would be held at the Exchange on a certain 
day, they resolved to take part. Accordingly, they met in the 
Fields and proceeded to the meeting-place in a body. Thither 
the opposition had also marched through the town, drums beat- 
ing, flags flying, trumpets sounding, until by force of these attrac- 
tions they concluded their parade with a mob at their heels. 
Then, the leaders having drawn to one side, announcement was 
made first of the nomination of the delegates and almost at 
once of the election of the nominees; and when the loyalists 
demanded representation, there was a show of bludgeons and 
other weapons, if not their appHcation, and the protestants were 
obliged to cease their protestations. 

To the people thus halting between two courses came the news 
of the skirmish at Lexington. A popular meeting was called, 
the committee took charge of the city, the Custom House was 
temporarily closed, the post route between New York and Bos- 
ton was given up, independent companies drilled daily, and an 
association was formed by which New York solemnly united 



k 



364 Cadwallader Colden 

with her sister colonies against the authority of Parliament. 
Colonel Morris, Mr. Watts, Mr. Wilkins, Colonel Maunsell, 
and others hastily made ready for England to see what they 
could do to bridge the crisis, and Colden, seeing Congress and 
committee in complete control, and obliged to remain a spectator 
only, left for Flushing. Thence he directed the departure of 
the scanty garrison for Boston on the ship which had arrived 
too late to be of any real use ; there he received and answered 
the address of the New York committee, the committee telHng 
him that all measures for redress had failed and he attempting 
a final defence of king and ParUament ; thence, again, he told 
the ministry how apparent it had been to him that a Uttle care 
and foresight could have saved New York at least ; thence also 
for more than a year he watched the contest with unflagging 
interest. But the embattled farmers had put an essential end 
to the British government of the colonies, its efficiency had ceased 
on the 19th of April, 1775, and on that date also Colden had 
ceased in any real sense to be a colonial executive. 

His long official career was over, and it is, therefore, now pos- 
sible to do that for which his contemporaries had neither the 
time nor the inclination and, considering his political activity 
as a whole, to take stock of its accompHshments, to try to dis- 
cover whether, from England's standpoint, its influence was 
harmful or the reverse. For fifty- five years he had represented 
and served her in one of her most important provinces, and 
remembering his varied tastes and interests, his friends and his 
ancestry, it would seem scarcely possible that he had not helped 
to enhance her prestige and develop her resources. Of excellent 
Scotch stock, the simple but sturdy ambition characteristic of 
his family had until his day found ample satisfaction in a clerical 
or mercantile career and in the possession of the respect of the 
county families. But Colden had looked farther afield, and by 
sheer force of a never-flagging industry and an unconquerable 



A Colonial Executive 365 

determination to make the most of every faculty he had achieved 
much. Beginning hfe as a poor country boy in an uninspiring 
Scotch parish, he could have said at its close that he had been a 
merchant ; a physician who had succeeded in adding something 
to the total of medical knowledge; a learned botanist; an 
absorbed, if somewhat unsuccessful, investigator in almost all 
the known sciences, in astronomy, in physics, in chemistry, and 
in what we now call psychology; a student of sanitation far 
in advance of his day; an educator to whom the interests of 
education were a passion ; an acceptable historian ; the chief 
administrator of the lands of one of the largest British provinces 
for nearly half a century ; and, finally, for many years its leading 
official. Thus, though not a man of genius, nor even perhaps 
of great talent, Colden had been saved from becoming a mere 
dilettante by a sense of pubUc duty, which with him had always 
been stronger than inclination, while at the same time his pas- 
sion for discovery and experiment had taught him the humiUty 
of the true scientist however tenacious he might be of the ulti- 
mate success of some of his theories. When it is added to all 
this that he had many excellent social qualities, that he had the 
ability to keep, as well as make, friends, that he was a thought- 
ful as well as an affectionate father, it would seem that, provided 
he had the abiHty, his success as an official was assured. But 
unfortunately the moment his mind touched on poHtics, where 
within certain limits he was more at home, more original, and 
more skilful than in any other phase of activity, his sympathy, 
his plasticity, his humanity even, dropped from him and he 
became a martinet, an intolerant theorist, an implacable stickler 
for the letter of the law, while tact and common sense became 
quahties to him unknown. From his standpoint, the freeborn 
colonists about him, many of them of foreign blood, and many 
more without even a childish memory of Enghsh traditions of 
rank and class, were to be dealt with not as thinking human 



366 Cadwallader Colden 

beings, but rather as mere animated puppets who persisted in 
making irritating use of their animation. If they rebelled at 
the word of command, force must be applied. It was absurd 
that they should presume even to argue, and that they should 
have any consideration was preposterous. 

Under these circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that 
his large and sane views of territorial expansion, of humanity 
to the native population, of systematic development, were quite 
lost sight of. Few there were in the province who could have 
appreciated statesmanship in any case; fewer still could have 
perceived it in such untoward surroundings. In justice to 
Colden, however, it must be remembered that his theories were 
in the main right, that he wanted nothing of any one that he was 
unwilUng to give himself, and that this was little more than an 
Englishman's unquestioning loyalty and instinctive obedience. 
The difficulty was that he never gave himself the trouble to 
understand, and apparently no one ever suggested to him, that 
England's New York subjects, with their varying antecedents, 
must be appealed to and not coerced. There is no doubt that 
these subjects were as stubborn and narrow in their independence 
as Colden was in his conservatism, while their leaders were often 
unscrupulous men without even the grace of strong convictions. 
Still if in extreme old age the rousing events of November, 1765, 
changed Colden's outlook to a marked extent, some salutary 
advice from his venerated superiors, perhaps, would have availed 
much in his comparative youth. The truth is that if a rigid 
devotion to form and an unrestrained expression of a critical 
opinion made Colden detested and probably reacted on the 
country he represented, any injury he may have worked her un- 
wittingly was her own fault. That England in any real sense 
of the word governed America during the years of Colden's 
career is undoubtedly not true. Up to the time of Walpole's 
fall, indeed, the avowed intention of the British government 



A Colonial Executive 367 

was to let the colonies work out their own problems and, whether 
that was a sensible proceeding in a government that expected 
sometime to assert itself or not, it was at least a consistently 
maintained course of action. But from Walpole's time on, the 
colonies suffered from a poUcy of alternate neglect and attention 
that seemed at times to be dictated by a very demon of malice. 
During all that time, New York, at least, had probably but one 
man at once interested enough, well-informed enough, and deter- 
mined enough to be able and willing to tell the whole truth about 
her to the home government. And what was the result ? Nearly 
always literally in the right. Golden repeatedly endeavoured 
to prove this to a set of ministers, who, with few exceptions, were 
not even mildly interested in the distant colony. In consequence, 
they were bored to distraction. But instead of telling him so, 
they, with extraordinary perverseness, would leave him in sus- 
pense for months, and then perhaps give some mark of their 
approval to the very man or men he had been trying to picture 
as subverting the government. Advised by EngUsh friends that 
their great men rarely referred to back papers, he had then noth- 
ing to do but go over the whole case and make himself still more 
wearisome. Meanwhile, every one in the province understood 
that he was unapproved, and he knew that they understood it. 
Yet even when his firm prejudices relaxed in favour of some 
colonial demand, the ministry were no more ready to take his 
advice than if he had been the veriest demagogue. His sugges- 
tions and his advice ignored, himself discredited in the eyes 
of every intelligent person in the colonies, he was yet left 
until the end in a position where at any moment he might be 
obhged to command the colony, as indeed he did do over and 
over again. 

But whether he was in first or second place made no difference. 
The government was completely out of touch with provincial 
affairs, and, notwithstanding its annual catechism of its gov- 



368 Cadwallader Colden 

ernors, desired nothing more than to remain so. Such a strenu- 
ous, eager person as Colden was distinctly annoying, but even 
to tell him so was too much trouble, and it was far easier to let 
him make his suggestions and pay no attention. As he had more 
than once proved of direct practical assistance to the govern- 
ment, and the government had apparently appreciated his ser- 
vices, there seems to be no other answer to the question why 
there was no attempt whatever made to come to some under- 
standing with such a faithful, if bigoted, servant, whose devo- 
tion promised an easy response. Such astonishing and long- 
continued neghgence, such indifference, varied, as it was, by 
arbitrary and spasmodic interference, could not long have con- 
tinued in any case even had George III been but a repetition 
of his father, even had he had stronger and better advisers. 
A system that was one vast difference of opinion was becoming 
too irritating for endurance, and some fixed understanding as to 
functions and obHgations must have been reached; some con- 
stitutional forms must have been universally accepted even had 
there been no appeal to force. Perhaps, if Colden 's reactionary 
advice had been early taken, the necessity for this in one prov- 
ince might have brought about a demand for it in all, and New 
York might have led the way to constitutional reform. It is 
even conceivable that his schemes might have been passively 
accepted if supported with sufficient strength, and then New 
York might have set the example of a colony developing natu- 
rally with the cooperation of the home government. But Col- 
den's advice was not taken in sufficient quantities to prove its 
quality, and while he cannot be said to have been a force for 
harmony, his executive career was so circumscribed, he was so 
deprived of the wholesome friction of argument with equal and 
superior authorities whose good faith and loyalty he could trust, 
that of whatever else he may be accused, he cannot be said ac- 
curately to have taken an essential part in the precipitation of 



A Colonial Executive 369 

the great disagreement. But it can be said that what he might 
have done in the interests of peace was left undone, and that, 
whether his own fault or that of others, what might have been 
a career of great political usefulness is interesting chiefly for 
what it failed to accomplish. 



8B 



INDEX 



Abercrombie, General, 262. 

Address to the Freeholders and Freemen, 
etc.. An, 194. 

Alexander, James, 114, 121, 128, 236, 238, 
255; Clinton's adviser, 201; friend- 
ship for Colden, 7, 9, 17, 68, 119, 120, 
124, 244, 248; the "oblong" syn- 
dicate, 40, 41, 65; letters from, 64, 
66, 69, 70, 134, 201, 204, 233, 245- 
247; member of council, 112; political 
effacement, 127; restoration, 157, 192, 

244. 

American Chronicle, The, 292. 

Amherst, Sir Jeflfrey, 265, 267, 27^, 278, 
290, 292, 293. 

Andros, Governor, 28. 

Appeals, question of, 300-308; attitude 
of Colden on, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 
306, 307, 308; opinion of the New 
York assembly on, 327, 328; of the 
New York council on, 307, 308; of 
the privy council on, 319. 

Assembly, the general, of New York, 
address, omission of, 167; on Colden, 
185, 210, 327, 328, 337; on Colden's 
vindication, 334; on Great Britain's 
policy, 297, 298; on the financial 
instructions to the New York govern- 
ors, 225; on the right of access to 
the governor, 211; on taxation, 338; 
on the Charlotte rebellion, 357; rep- 
resentations of, 152, 167; remon- 
strance of, 180, 184, 185, 190; on 
"To the Betrayed Inhabitants, etc.," 
342, 343- 

Assembly of 1775, loyalty of, 361. 

Ayscough, Secretary, 248; letters from, 
691 7Si 76, 220, 236, 240, 241, 243. 

Banyer, Secretary, 212, 213, 214, 282, 354. 
Bartram, John, 8. 
Bayard, Nicholas, 72, 73. 
Bayard, Stephen, 143, 180, 192. 
Bedford, Duke of, 204, 215, 239, 250. 
Bellomont, Governor, vacating act of, 
30. 32- 



Bernouilli, James, 11. 

Betrayed Inhabitants, etc., To the, 342, 

343- 

Board of Trade, the, reports on land, 35, 
36, 86, 103; report on the province of 
New York, 249, 253, 254. 

Boston riots, 313, 314. 

Bowdoin, James, 14. 

Bradford, Attorney General, death of, 
252. 

Bradford, William, 4. 

Buffon, George, Comte de, 16. 

Burnet, William, arrival in New York, 33, 
95, 109; plans of, III, 112, 167; un- 
popularity of, 116, 117. 

Campbell, Laughlin, 63, 93, 127, 128. 

Campbell, Lieutenant Donald, 93. 

Canada, expedition against, 142; ex- 
pedition abandoned, 178; second 
expedition proposed, 177, 179, 180, 
197, 202, 210; surrender of, 267. 

Catherwood, Secretary, 220, 223, 233, 
234, 241, 253, 254. 

Chambers, John, 252, 255, 267, 274, 
278. 

Chandos, Duke of, 40. 

Charles, Mr. Robert, 203, 249, 265, 266, 
286. 

Charlotte rebellion, the, 356, 357. 

Choat, Colonel, 221. 

Clarke, George, commander-in-chief, 58, 
126, 129, 130; connection with the 
"oblong," 40, 121; land policy, 59, 
63, 127; letter from, 62; relations 
with Colden, 37, 116, 118, 160. 

Clinton, Governor, appointment, 130; 
arrival, 67, 132; helplessness, 141, 
142, 143, 197, 221, 227, 228, 238; 
letters to Colden, 74, 158, 165, 173, 
199, 204, 205, 209, 216, 218, 233, 241, 
244; messages, 152, 167, 183, 186, 
187, 188, 211, 225, 227; mistaken 
policy of administration of, 189, 224, 
225, 226; speeches, 151, 166, 210, 224. 

Clinton, Mrs., 208, 221. 



37^ 



372 



Index 



Colden, Betty, 23, 122, 131. 

Colden, Cadwallader, account of the 
Albany Treaty, 156, 157, 159, 160; am- 
bition, 2, 6, 16, 131, 261; boundary 
commissioner, 39, 64, 80; connection 
with the "oblong," 40, 41, 55, 65, 66, 
67, 121; commander-in-chief, 80, 260, 
283, 294, 353 ; educational theories, 
20, 21, 22, 23, 24; interest in the Ind- 
ians, 5, 60, 80, 85, 98, loi, 138, 203, 
251, 252, 293; land pohcy as gov- 
ernor, 91, 92, 27s, 293; letters to Alex- 
ander, 71, 247; letter to Ayscough, 
70; letter to Catherwood, 234; letters 
to Governor Clinton, 138, 160, 165, 
198, 200, 203, 215, 217, 218, 222, 234, 
237, 240, 243, 247; letters to Mrs. 
Colden, 131, 133, 134, 143. i44. 146, 
147, 148, 153, 154, 169, 170, 171, 172; 
letters to Mrs. Hill, 21, 51; letters to 
Sir William Johnson, 98, 100, 101; 
letter to Archibald Kennedy, 159; 
letter to Lord Mansfield, 335; letter 
to Governor Shirley, 228; letter to 
Sir Peter Warren, 193; letters on 
Smith's history, 20, 108, 270; map 
made by, 113; marriage, 2; master 
in chancery, 3, 55, 107, 116; me- 
morials, etc., on land, 35, 36, 49, 68, 
94, 95, 96, 108, 285; on the climate 
of New York, 113; on the Continen- 
tal Congress, 355, 358, 359; on the 
eastern boundary, 88, 89; on the fur 
trade, 113; on the trade of New York, 
113; member of council, 112; minis- 
terial criticism of, 87, 295, 328, 346, 
347; opinion on Independents, 270; 
on lawyers, 87, 272; on the judiciary, 
235, 266, 286, 336; on trade, 275, 
294, 360; plan for colonial govern- 
ment, 79; relations with Clinton, 
176, 202, 203, 204, 209, 215, 217, 221, 
232, 238, 241, 243-249, 254, 255, 256, 
257; report on Indian trade acts, 
114; schemes for the lieutenant-gov- 
ernorship, 157, 177, 250, 254, 256, 
265, 266, 286, 287; success of these, 
273; surveyor general, 3, 27, 68, 69, 
107, 125, 126; tactics with assembly, 
268, 272, 273, 277, 283, 284, 285, 290, 
291; unpopularity of, 116, 152, 155, 
167, 185, 188, 209, 269, 274,275,276, 
277, 286, 287, 290, 292, 300, 309, 310, 



311, 319, 320, 321, 323, 326, 327, 328; 

versatility, 3, 4. 
Colden, Jane, 24. 
Colhoun, Dr., 223, 228. 
CoUinson, Peter, 8, 11, 12, 14, 19, 256, 

265, 274; letter from, 170. 
Committee of correspondence, 338, 339, 

354, 355. 359- 
Connecticut boundary, the, 38, 39, 40. 
Connecticut River, the, proclaimed by 

Colden New York's eastern boundary, 

83 ; boundary confirmed by the king, 

103. 
Continental Congress, deputies from 

New York to, 363. 
Constitutional Courant, The, 316. 
Conway, Secretary, 328. 
Cortlandt, Philip, 143, 192. 
Cosby, Governor, 40, 42, 51, 53, 55, 56, 

57. 58, 59. 122-126, 349. 
Crown Point, 147, 149, 166, 178, 181, 192, 

203, 205. 
Cruger, John, 339. 
Cunningham, Waddell, 300, 301, 319. 

Delancey, Captain John, 343. 

Delancey, James, member of council, 121; 
chief justice, 123, 130; chief justice dur- 
ing good behaviour, 133, 137; break 
with Clinton, 142, 143, 145, 155, 156, 
157, 192, 199; lieutenant-governor, 
203; attacks Colden, 212, 213, 214, 
223, 224, 231, 232, 239, 240, 253, 257; 
commander-in-chief, 258; death, 260, 
263, 264, 274. 

Delancey, Oliver, 208, 221, 223, 228, 257, 
265, 274, 335. 

Delancey, Peter, 23, 131. 

Delancey, Stephen, 117, 121, 207. 

Delancey, Stephen, Jr., 325. 

Dongan, Governor, 29. 

Douglass, Dr. William, 7. 

Duane, James, 351, 352, 358. 

Dunmore, Lord, 346, 348; suit against 
Colden, 349. 35°. 35'. 352, 353. 

Edinburgh, University of, 2, 15. 

Egremont, Earl of, 285. 

English colonial policy, 217, 228, 276, 

277, 287, 294, 29s, 296, 329, 330, 331, 

334, 335. 337. 346, 354. 
English land grants, 40, 59, 60, 90, 93, 

293- 



Index 



373 



Euler, Leonard, 13. 
Evans's patent, 32, 33, 34. 
Excise, trouble about the, 236, 237, 238. 
Explanation of the First Causes of Ac- 
tion in Matter, etc.. An, 10-15. 

Fees, official investigation of, 94, 95, 294, 

295- 
Fever epidemic, 24. 
Five Indian Nations, etc., The History 

Of The, 5, 19, 20. 
Fletcher, Governor, 29, 30. 
Forshey, Thomas, 300. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, iS. 

18, 20, 209; letter from, 242, 316, 348. 
French aggressiveness, no, 242. 
French and Indian War, 80, 261. 

Gage, General, 313, 314, 324, 35^, 357- 

Galloway, Joseph, 358. 

Gazette, Bradford's, 119, 121, 122. 

Ged, William, 18. 

George II, 268. 

George III, 268, 271, 299, 300, 348. 

Gooch, Governor, 149. 

Great Minnisink patent, 31, 34, 97, 102. 

Grenville, George, 325, 326. 

Greyhound, H. M. S., 239. 

Gronovius, 9, 19. 

Halifax, Earl of, 78, 253, 254, 256, 265, 
267, 274, 337. 

Hamilton, President, 169. 

Hampshire grants, the, 81, 83, 93, 94, 103, 
104. 

Hardy, Governor, 263, 283. 

Harison, Francis, 40, 41, 57, 121. 

Henry, Patrick, 347. 

Herhan, Mr., 18. 

Hillsborough, Earl of, 337, 349. 353- 

Holderness, Earl of, 250, 255. 

Holland, Edward, 152, 249, 252. 

Homespun Market, 317. 

Hopkinson, Francis, 16. 

Horsmanden, Daniel, 42, 125, 128, 142, 
143, 145, 156, 157. 178. 179. 180. 
192, 202, 203, 210, 223, 274, 278, 293, 
294, 30^ 3°3< 305. 323. 332; letters 
from, 42, 43, 44, 46, 48,5 1, 54, 55. 57. 6i- 

Hunter, Governor, 3, 27, 107, 108. 

Indian conferences, 112, 141, 145, 173, 
174, 175, 206, 251. 



Indian trade acts, 111-115. 

Indians, Colden's interest in the, see 
Golden. 

Indians, praying, in, 112. 

Instruction on governmental receipts, 280, 
350; requiring a suspending clause 
in certain acts, 32d instruction, 
301, 302, 303, 304, 305; 33d in- 
struction, 306, 307, 308, 309. 

Intercolonial wars, effect of, 79, 261. 

Introduction to the Study of Philosophy, 
An, 26. 

James, Major Arthur, 313, 320, 321, 

331- 

Jefferson, Thomas, 16. 

Johnson, Samuel, 9, 25. 

Johnson, Sir William, 84, 85, 91, 92, 98, 
100, 104, 146; letters from Johnson 
to Clinton, 180, 181, 182, 192, 203, 
219, 226, 231, 238, 242, 249, 251, 252, 
257. 297- 

Jones, David, 137, 201, 242, 257, 275, 
278, 293, 294, 305. 

Kalm, Peter, 9, 19. 

Kayaderroseres, patent of, 31, 97, 98, 295. 
Kemp, Attorney General, 301. 
Kennedy, Archibald, 119, 121, 143, 235; 

letters from, 158, 162. 
Kennedy, Captain Archibald (Jr.), 315, 

322, 328, 329. 
Sling's College, 9, 79, 264, 356. 

Land policy, of the proprietary governors, 
28; of Governor Dongan, 29; of 
Governor Fletcher, 29, 30; of Gov- 
ernor Nanfan, 30; of Governor 
Cornbury, 31 ; of President Schuyler, 
32; of Governor Cosby, 51; of Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Clarke, 59, 63; of 
Lieutenant-Governor Colden, see 
Colden. 

Land, fever for, 30, 293. 

Lawyers, the, of New York, Colden's 
opinion of, see Colden; fraternity of, 
269, 270; unpopularity of, 336. 

Lincoln, Earl of, 132. 

Linnxus, 9, 19, 25. 

Livingston, Peter Van Brugh, 339. 

Livingston, Philip, 141, 143, 145, 156, 

157, 339- 
Livingston, Philip, Jr., 339. 




014 112 580 1 



